Uprising
by A Wordsmith
Summary: Ash Ketchum started his journey like every other trainer. He received his starter from the closest gym leader, started challenging gyms, and dreamed of winning the Indigo League. But he rises above the rest - just as Team Rocket does.
1. Expectations

After Misfits, I wanted to write a more realistic and gritty world, one that I can have a lot of fun writing in. It'll be the Pokemon world, not entirely anime nor games, as I've put in bits from everything I could get my hands on. I hope it'll be long enough to beat Misfits several times over, and it should extend to different regions. For the most part, I will use the Kanto pokedex, but migrations are common. Pokemon can learn all of the moves listed on their Learnset, TM, and Tutoring lists. They cannot learn Breeding moves unless they are born with them. Anyway, please read and review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, but I will be taking creative liberties and will not be following it religiously.

xXx

He would never be more excited than he was today. Ten years had gone by and now a pokemon would finally become his. Ever since he was old enough to remember he had been fascinated by pokemon, and now he would be able to travel Kanto as a trainer and collect a full team of them.

Professor Oak would be showing up in less than five minutes, if the man was on time. Ash ducked under his mother's reaching arm as it tried to fluff his hair, ignoring her amused chuckle.

"Come on, Ash. You still have bed hair! I thought you said you brushed it," she admonished, a smile on her face.

"I did. My hat just messed it up," he said back, holding up the offending object. He jammed it back on his head, twisting the cap forward. His backpack pulled against his shoulders, chock full of everything he would need, a belt wound around his waist.

The corners of her lips twitched up into a warm grin. "And I wouldn't ever part you from your precious hat." She paused and turned to the wall, which proudly bared a clock that Ash had checked more times in the last hour than ever before. "It's 9:13, Ash. Shoes tied?"

He rolled his eyes but did check. They were.

Professor Oak had, for the past twenty years, been gifted three very special pokemon from the League. Bulbasaur, squirtle, and charmander - Kanto's three starter pokemon. Professor Oak trained them to be ready for their trainers and then sent them off exactly one week after the Indigo Conference, which happened once a year. But of course, there were many more than three trainers starting out in Kanto. The League told him which trainers to give those pokemon to, although the professor did get a say. This year, they would be going to his grandson, Gary, the daughter of Charles Goodshow, and a psychic personally recommended by Sabrina. All other trainers received starters either from their parents, breeders, or from the closest gym leader.

For those in the sleepy Pallet Town, that would be Viridian City.

Delia peered toward the window next to their door, her auburn hair drawn back into a tight bun against the back of her head. Ash paced in front of the door, glancing up at the clock yet again. 9:17. Well, the professor and never been known for being punctual. He had another trainer to pick up in Pallet, which was a rather small cast this year, although he knew Leaf was getting her starter from her parents. There were a few other properly-aged trainers in Pallet, but most chose to get their starters from breeders that could promise a rarer pokemon than the free gym leader starters.

His mother suddenly perked up. He spun toward her. "Oh! There he is!"

Ash twisted his cap one last time before opening the door. There, walking casually up with the bright morning sun reflected behind him, was Professor Oak. Another boy, rather lean and gawky, trotted behind him.

Professor Oak smiled at him. "Ah! Saves me the trouble of ringing. Are you ready to go to Viridian City?"

He nodded quickly and trotted off of his porch, turning back to wave to his mother. She waved furiously back, calling out, "Come back right after you get back, okay?"

Ash smiled and nodded. Oak turned back to the other boy - Derrick, Ash remembered, though they hadn't interacted much over the years. "Well then! Have either of you teleported before?"

They both shook their heads. Oak looked around, leading them closer and closer toward the edge of town. "That's fine. I hardly expected you to have done it before - Pallet isn't known for its psychics!" Chuckling slightly, he pulled out a remote-shaped device and pressed a thin button.

"My alakazam doesn't like her pokeball, and I use this to alert her," he explained, and Ash's eyes went wide. He had known Oak for many years and had explored nearly every inch of his fields, but he hadn't ever met his famed alakazam. He and Derrick exchanged wide-eyed looks.

After another moment, the air distorted like a heat wave and a pokemon appeared. She stared over the group, black eyes blank and bushy mustache floating without any feeling of wind. She was mainly a dark yellow and brown, standing easily over Ash's minuscule height and evenly matching Professor Oak.

He smiled, gently tapping her shoulder. "Ah, thank you. We're ready!"

She stared at them with blank eyes, two spoons clenched tightly in her hands. Ash frowned, staring around. The world suddenly went black, like he had blinked, though his eyes were still open. The next second, he was standing on the edge of a very different forest, a burst of colder air hitting him like a wave.

Professor Oak shook it off while Ash and Derrick both stared around. Derrick, in particular, looked at the sprawling Viridian City in awe, eyes wide. Ash hadn't felt anything beyond the temporary screen of darkness, and even that had only lasted for a heartbeat. He couldn't even imagine how powerful she must be.

Oak coughed lightly to get their attention, turning to the city. Viridian was bigger than any place he had ever been before, although he had never been to a city before. Oak gave them one more minute to stare around before starting to walk, leading them toward the city limits.

It was early morning and a Sunday, and the crowds that normally gathered were only grown by the fact it was the day that trainers received their Trainer IDs. Hundreds of people congregated around the sidewalks, holding pokeballs and chattering to their neighbors. Professor Oak smoothly slid through the crowd, ducking his head to avoid being noticed.

In only ten minutes of incredible sights, they pulled to a stop in front of a large building with a dark orange tiled roof. A sign out front proudly proclaimed it as the _Pokemon Academy_.

"Giovanni's out on League business, has been for nearly three months, so while he captured the pokemon, he can't hand them out," Oak explained. "The Academy was more than happy to allow the starter selection to happen in their battle hall. Come along now."

Feeling a bit like a psyduck baby following its mother, Ash trailed after the professor as he entered the building. It was warm, filled with posters and helpful attendants. One woman wearing a badge directed them to the left, and only two turns later they had entered what had to have been the battle hall.

It was tall, nearly three stories to allow flying types to have their fair share. Bleachers lined one wall and the middle of the room was hard pressing dirt, surrounded by a wide walkway of tiled stone. The platforms for trainers had been cleared away and dozens of people roamed around, voices bouncing off of the walls.

Ash paused, staring around. The ceremony should start in a few minutes, but was he supposed to do something before? Professor Oak cleared that up, coughing again to get their attention.

"I'm going to go sign you in, boys, just wait here - someone will come and start calling names. Make sure get your ID!" With a final clap on their shoulders, Oak turned and walked toward a desk, leaving Ash and Derrick alone.

"You excited?" Derrick asked, voice a fair bit lower than Ash's. He was staring around the room, uncomfortable with the large crowd, but his eyes still flashed with awe and readiness.

"Of course. You?"

"Yeah." They hadn't talked much - at all - back in Pallet, and other than their burning excitement, they didn't have many topics to talk about. They both turned back to watch the growing crowd.

The clock struck 9:30 with a quiet _click_ yet the noise from the crowd picked up several times over. The starting trainers were shoved to the front of their groups, bright-eyed and red-cheeked. Ash walked forward, toward the front of his group.

This was it. He would be getting his pokemon today, as well as the license that allowed him to capture more and compete in the Indigo Conference. It was the moment of a lifetime.

There was the click of heels and a woman marched out in front of them. She had incredibly dark hair and wore a professional suit, thin glasses flashing. A clipboard was tucked in her arms. "My name is Jeanne Matori, and I am Giovanni's assistant. Now, when you hear your name, please step forward - all others are required to either sit on the bleachers or leave."

Professor Oak gave him and Derrick one last cheerful wave from the rows of metallic seating. Parents and friends said their good lucks before moving back as well, leaving the seven trainers tucked together in the middle of the room.

Jeanne began to read off names, pointing each trainer toward a group of two helpers behind her. "Ketchum, Ash!" was the third called, and he trotted quickly toward the small group, backpack bouncing against his spine.

The man stared over him, eyes flicking down to a small page that held his picture. Professor Oak had already signed him in and after a few moments, the man grunted in agreement and turned to the person next to him, a rather squat boy. "Ash Ketchum."

The boy nodded, a bright smile on his face, and gestured Ash over. He extended a thin bracelet, memorized words filling the air. "This is your Trainer ID! It's waterproof, fire retardant, and should stretch to fit you for three more sizes. The League replaces them free for new sizes, but lose, damage, or destroy it, and the cost is three hundred dollars."

It clicked smoothly over his wrist, and the boy pushed him back to the center of the battle hall as the next trainer stepped forward. He brushed his fingers over his Trainer ID. It was a thin bracelet and weighed almost nothing, and if he looked away he couldn't even feel it was there. Thin black and white slashes ran over the inside of his wrist, revealing his code. If he lost it, he'd have to remember a twelve-digit number in order to buy things, at least until he got a new one. The steep price was a firm reminder to keep a close eye on it.

Finally, all seven trainers had been fixed with their Trainer IDs. They stood in the semblance of a line, quiet before Jeanne's impassive gaze. She snapped her fingers and a man stepped forward, seven pokeballs in his hand.

Ash grinned. His starter was in there.

"Giovanni was very kind this year. While he was out on official business, he was able to capture a few more rare pokemon than we normally have, namely several ground types. You will each come up to me and tell me which pokemon you want - if there are several wanting one, you will _peacefully_ come to an agreement. If you cannot, I will decide."

With a flash of scarlet light, two pokemon were released. They were floating rocks with two arms each, wide eyes and a grinning mouth. Both stared around curiously but stayed still, eyes fixed on the trainers. "These are two geodude found in the Rock Tunnel. Three moves each."

Another flash. There were three pokemon - a bluish purple quadruped twitching its large ears rather nervously, a brown bird with a bright crest, and a tadpole with a long, wagging tail. "A female nidoran, a pidgey, and a poliwag. Four, two, and three moves respectively." There were a few excited murmurs at the nidoran's four moves.

The last two pokemon were released. One was a small, mouse-like pokemon with a tough outer shell of stone. The other was shaped like a rhino, thick grey plates covering every inch of its skin. It stared around with bright scarlet eyes, rumbling. "This is a rhyhorn, only a month old from our traveling herd. One move. The other is a sandshrew, with four moves - one of which is a rare egg move."

Dozens of whispers shot out at the sandshrew's movepool, but they each stayed still. Jeanne finally inclined her head and most of the trainers moved forward, trotting up to meet each of the pokemon.

Ash hung back for a moment longer. All but two trainers had gone immediately to the sandshrew, which looked rather panicked, the others going to the nidoran and the two geodude. He avoided the large crowd and went to the pokemon that had caught his attention.

Rhyhorn were powerful pokemon, even though the one in front of him was only a month old. It was almost half of what the average height was - two feet at the top of its spines instead of three and a half - but bulky muscles showed through the thick rock plates and its claws were sharp.

Ash knelt in front of the pokemon, who peered up at him with those scarlet eyes. He remembered they didn't have the best sight and stomped his foot quickly on the ground.

Immediately, Rhyhorn's ground typing sensed the vibrations and turned more cleanly to him, a low rumble escaping its mouth. It didn't seem threatening, and the pokemon seemed more comfortable with Ash kneeling than standing.

"Hey there," he said softly. "Do you want to travel with me?"

The pokemon's scarlet eyes lit up. A puff of dusty air escaped its nostrils. Ash pushed a little harder, a nervous grin on his face. "Would you like to be my friend?"

There was a moment's pause before Rhyhorn stepped forward and butted its head against Ash's knees. The stone scraped past his pants but it didn't hurt. He laughed and patted the ground type on its head, getting a warm rumble in response. His grin strengthened into something excited.

"I'm going to go talk to Jeanne, and then we'll be friends," he promised. Rhyhorn snorted again but stood there docily as Ash rose up to his full height and turned toward Jeanne, who was watching the proceedings quietly. The four trainers surrounding the sandshrew were whispering furiously amongst each other. Ash could see Derrick, the boy's height pushing him above the rest.

Jeanne stared down at him as he approached, eyes calm. "Have you chosen your pokemon?"

He nodded. "I'd like Rhyhorn, please."

"Very well then." She scratched a note on her clipboard before staring back up at him. "I'll ask you to wait a minute here to see whether any others would like it, but if no one does, the rhyhorn is yours."

He had never been more jittery. Rhyhorn narrowed its eyes as a trainer walked past it toward the poliwag, chased away from the sandshrew, but they didn't come close to it. No one wanted the pokemon with only one move, it seemed.

Ash didn't care. Sixty seconds passed and Jeanne raised her voice to call across the room. "The rhyhorn is about to be chosen. Would any others like to contend for it?" The trainer by the geodude raised their head for a moment before turning back to the pair. No one else spoke up.

Jeanne turned back to him. "Well then, Mr. Ketchum, the rhyhorn is yours. My assistant will give you its pokeball as well as a pamphlet about its basic care, and then you may leave with your guardian or caretaker. Have a good day, and a better journey around Kanto."

He grinned wildly, which she returned to a much lesser degree before shooing him behind her, where another desk sat. A tall woman with shortcut brown hair waved him over, a red and white sphere in her hand. "Ash, is it?" At his nod, she continued, a wide grin and excited bounce in her step. "Well then! You're the first of our trainers to choose their starter. We have a herd of rhydon and rhyhorn that travel around here and Route 22, they came down from Victory Road several years ago and don't bother us too much. Giovanni caught it almost two weeks ago, and it's been ready to travel ever since it left that pokeball! Speaking of which, here." She handed over the pokeball. Ash snatched it up and cradled it in his hands, eyes wide.

She chuckled. "Every year, I swear. Here's a pamphlet - there's not much on here except for a few tips, you can look everything else up online or all of the books you can find at Pokemon Centers. I've filled out its basic information on the front page - gender, ability, moves, you know the drill. If you came with anyone else, I'd probably wait for them unless they get mad, but other than that, you're free to go!"

He thanked her profusely, holding the slim pamphlet before tucking it into his backpack. He'd look it over with his mother when he got home. But for now, he sped quickly back toward Rhyhorn.

It looked up at him and rumbled. The three trainers around the sandshrew had marched toward Jeanne and now she was asking them questions, presumably to decide who got the pokemon. There was a trainer with the nidoran trotting quickly by their heels and another with a geodude. They were slowly clearing away, ready for their journey.

"Hey there. Let's go over and see Professor Oak, okay?" Rhyhorn rumbled and stood fully up - Ash noticed it had stretched out on its stomach while waiting for him, not seemingly able to sit properly.

They walked toward the bleachers, Rhyhorn's feet sending tiny tremors through the ground with every step. Professor Oak stepped forward to greet them, a wide grin on his face. "A rhyhorn! They are truly impressive, as I'm sure many will say. We'll just wait until Derrick finishes up before heading back to Pallet - I have some things I'd like to give you." He winked before turning back to the other trainers.

Five minutes passed before the sandshrew was chosen. It was actually Derrick who won it, quickly speeding back toward the rather timid creature and recalling it. The ground type didn't seem to want to be able to crowds very much. He walked triumphantly back toward Professor Oak, a wide grin on his face.

"Well done, boys. Giovanni usually captures several ground types but sandshrew and geodude were never truly common here. Congratulations! Are you ready to return to Pallet Town?"

Ash looked down at Rhyhorn, who had finished staring at Oak and apparently decided he wasn't a threat. He wanted to get to know the pokemon, and there was no better place to do that than at home. "Yes, please."

xXx

The second he opened the door, his mother swooped down upon him with a wide grin and tight hug. He returned it just as warmly, his hat stabbing into her shoulder. She flicked it as she pulled back, grin widening.

"Ash!" She pointed to his belt, where a bright sphere glinted in the light. His grin was enough to answer her.

She smiled warmly and grabbed onto his arm, pulling him through the kitchen to the back door. He trotted after her, dodging her pushed out chair and the cup of cooling tea still settled on the table.

The next moment and he was out in the backyard, grass curling over the edge of his boots. Their picnic table was perched on the porch, and a pidgey sitting on it looked up, startled, and flew away.

Ash pressed the button on his pokeball and released his starter in a flash of scarlet light. Rhyhorn appeared and immediately growled, tensing up and shaking itself, plates grinding each other.

He stepped forward, stomping his feet a little harder than normal, and Rhyhorn peered up at him and calmed slightly, snorting out a puff of dusty breath. Ash grinned and tapped Rhyhorn behind its horn, the stone cool to the touch.

Delia grinned and kneeled down, making herself smaller. Rhyhorn huffed but stayed closer to Ash, plates shifting.

They got out the pamphlet from Ash's backpack, Rhyhorn sniffing curiously at the silver fabric. Just as they opened the page to Rhyhorn's information, there was a hesitant knock on their fence gate.

Ash stood and turned to see Professor Oak by their path entrance, a black bag in his hand. He waved with the other, his bright shock of silver hair shifting as he opened the gate and walked in at Delia's warm greeting.

"Hello again, Ash! And Delia, of course." He smiled and walked around Rhyhorn, keen eyes searching out everything on its body. "A good size for its young age - Ash, expect it to grow rather slowly for pokemon. I'd expect quite a while until it's ready to evolve, though the time will decrease if you train it strongly."

Ash grinned. Rhydon were forces to be reckoned with, although rhyhorn were no slackers. But there had to be some other reason for the professor's sudden visit. "Professor, why did you come here?"

"Oh!" The man perked up and raised his hands, bringing attention back to the black bag. "I have been tasked by the League to create a sort of learning encyclopedia, which I called a pokedex. It scans caught pokemon and discovers their moves, abilities, gender, favourites, as well as other things. For wild pokemon, it can't tell moves and such, but it does tell what they are, as well as having access to a veritable treasury of pokemon habitats and known locations. Truly ingenious, I might add."

Ash blinked, grin growing. Professor Oak was a genius of many levels, there was no doubt in that. But this would revolutionize the pokemon world.

"It will also have a section for trainers to put down notes and such on their own pokemon. I'll go over it first, double-checking it with other trainer accounts, but they'll be able to gather research without making my old bones go out onto the field again."

Delia clapped her hands together. "That's wonderful, Sam!"

He accepted her praise with a wane grin. "But I didn't come here to brag about an old man's accomplishment, of course. The League gave me a grant to start production of them, as test runs to figure out how well they work. My grandson received one, as well as several others, but it turns out I had just enough money to make one last device." With a flourish, he pulled a red pokedex out of his bag.

Ash gaped as he accepted it, but his mouth quickly fell into a wide grin. The pokedex was about the size of his hand and glimmered with bright silver metal, the red outer casing molded smoothly over the device and in top condition. Several buttons lined its outsides. Overall, it looked more professional than anything he had ever owned before. "Thank you, professor. I'll do you proud."

"I know." There was a smile on the man's face as he pointed out the buttons Ash needed for activation. "That's why I trusted you, Ash, you never back down from a challenge. I do believe you might get new facts on every pokemon in Kanto, if not the world!"

There were a few more minutes as Ash figured out how the pokedex worked. It beeped to life, already knowing his name, before displaying a white screen. He felt along the edges and found a circular orb in the back, embedded in the surface. Aiming it at Rhyhorn, he scanned his starter.

 _Rhyhorn, the spikes pokemon. This pokemon is known for its extremely high defense, its outer shell being made of thick rock plates. They can take several hours to feel pain from blows._

 _This rhyhorn knows the move horn attack_. _Its ability is lightning rod, which lets it store electricity in its horn._

Ash glanced down at its horn, which had to be nearly three inches long and impressively sharp. Rhyhorn rumbled at the praise the pokedex offered it. Ash frowned and toggled a few buttons before he found what he wanted - Rhyhorn was male.

Professor Oak nodded warmly before taking his leave. He would have given Gary his starter already but the boy was probably still at his lab, gathering last supplies. Neither would leave without seeing each other.

He sat down on the porch step, pulling off his backpack. The pamphlet was tucked into a safe side pocket - while he had a pokedex now, that didn't mean that the tips and tricks on it wouldn't be helpful. His pokedex went on a small hook on his belt that was normally used for a flashlight, but it would be far more important now.

Delia moved in to help him. Though he had checked everything for the past week and tripled checked this morning, he did it all one last time. A hearty supply of potions, a rather heavily detailed map, and enough food to last him and his pokemon a bit past Viridian, where he would buy the bulk of his new supplies.

There was nothing else to do but say goodbye. He turned to his mom and found the words stuck quite thickly in his throat.

His mother looked down at him with warmth spilling into tears in her eyes. "I'm so proud of you, Ash," she whispered, pulling him into another tight hug. Rhyhorn rumbled but didn't make a move to attack her - he had seemingly attached Delia to the list of safe people around his trainer.

"I love you," he said into her shoulder. She squeezed him tighter before turning him around and pushing him toward the fence gate. It was time to go.

Rhyhorn trotted next to him, plates creaking as they caught on the edge of the gate. His strength was enough to bend the wood before it snapped back into position. He closed it quietly behind him and saw his mother staring past him to the wooded land of Route 1, eyes shining.

It was only a few minute walk to the end of Pallet Town, being situated on the edge as his house was. There was a shape on the edge of the forest, poking around the few trees with a vaguely humanoid figure beside them.

Ash grinned and stepped forward. Romane Chikara, better known as Leaf. She hated her first name.

"Hey-o, Ketchum!" She yelled, waving her hand and forth. "I was 'bout to leave you."

He trotted up next to her, Rhyhorn rumbling as he tried to keep up. The shadows of the trees were pushed back and revealed her starter, the machop she had been talking about for the past two years. It narrowed its eyes across the path to him, arms crossed and blue-gray skin shining.

They had agreed to walk together, at least to the first town before they split up. Gary had originally wanted to come with them but had decided only a few weeks back that he wanted to go solo for most of his journey. Being the grandson of Professor Oak put a fair amount of responsibilities on his shoulders, ones he hadn't really begun to handle.

"So what moves do you have?" She asked, tapping Machop on the shoulder to gets it attention. "He knows low kick, leer, and focus energy right now, but I'll train him up to be the next Bruno."

Ash snorted. "Just horn attack for now, he's only a month old. Have you seen Gary? We've been planning our battle for nearly a year now, and if he even thinks he can escape me I will personally hunt him down." He frowned as Leaf broke into a wide, smug grin.

"Ah, Ashy-boy," a voice said from behind the nearest tree. "I didn't know you cared so much." With a flourish, Gary appeared from behind the thick trunk, a cocky grin on his face as he balanced a pokeball on his fingertip.

Leaf grinned. "He had me hide him before you came - wanted a dramatic entrance. Both of you are hopeless."

Hopeless though they might be, both immediately split up and stopped about fifteen feet apart. Leaf's Machop kicked away a few spare rocks and sticks before retreating to stand calmly by her side, arms crossed.

"So which one were you able to get?" Ash asked, still grinning. Rhyhorn seemed to understand this was a battle and stepped forward, rumbling deeply in his chest. It sounded like grinding stone.

"Gramps made me go last, for whatever reason." Gary snorted. "The psychic wouldn't touch the bulbasaur with a ten-foot pole - something about poisons being bad around psychic types or something. So Goodshow's daughter took it, psychic took the charmander, and you can guess which one I snagged." He stared over Rhyhorn's bulky form, even for his young age. "Although rhyhorn aren't too bad. You ready or what?"

He released his squirtle, which stood tall. It was about a foot and some change tall, blue skin bright and slightly moist. Its shell was hard, rough browns and tans, and it looked ready for battle.

Rhyhorn actually growled at the sight of the water type, age-old instincts coming to the forefront. It hissed back, pounding its arms together.

"C'mon, let's do this. Go get it, squirtle! Tackle!"

Rhyhorn squared up as Squirtle started to charge, feet sturdy against the ground. The tackle would hurt him but Ash didn't know whether Rhyhorn would be able to dodge. "Meet it with horn attack."

Squirtle dodged at the sight of the horn, swerving around Rhyhorn to slam into his side plates. Rhyhorn grunted and moved back a few inches, but turned as fast as he could and lunged again with his horn. Squirtle stumbled back just in time to avoid the attack, dazed from hitting the rocky plates with its head.

Gary called out again and Squirtle circled slowly, looking for a place to hit. It saw some sort of opportunity and charged again, but Rhyhorn was able to spin fast enough to slam his horn right into Squirtle's underbelly. The turtle squeaked and fell backward, writhing for a moment before falling flat, unable to battle.

"Ah, dammit." Gary grinned despite the outcome. He knelt down and tapped Squirtle on the shoulder before recalling it, whispering a few congratulations. "Squirtle's has really soft scales on his underbelly right now, but just you wait until he learns a water move or two. Then you won't stand a chance!"

Ash laughed. "So where are you heading first?"

"I'm not sure yet." Gary shrugged his shoulders, giving Machop an appraising look like he wanted to battle it as well. "Pewter'll be a piece of cake with Squirtle and I'm sure I can find some grass type or something to work with me for Cerulean. I don't know what order I'll take the big three gyms but you can put down that I'll get them all, Ashy-boy."

He couldn't hold back a sigh at the near decade-old nickname. Gary roared with laughter and slapped his shoulder, eliciting a rumble from Rhyhorn.

"I'll see you on a battlefield soon enough though," Gary promised. "You won't escape from me that easily."

Ash bobbed his head, grinning. "I'll be waiting." Gary grinned and walked away, most likely back to his grandfather's house to get his pokemon healed. It wasn't smart to go onto any route with your pokemon injured or knocked out.

Leaf slapped him on the shoulder, grinning. "Hell kid, not bad! You ready to travel? I think we could probably go to the Prof if your rhyhorn needs some healing from the tackle."

Rhyhorn snorted at the very idea. He butted his head against Ash's calf, pushing the boy forward a few inches.

"I think we're fine." He tapped Rhyhorn behind his horn, to which the ground type huffed.

"Should take us either three or four days. What do you think?" Leaf asked, Machop marching a few feet in front of her and test-punching a tree hard enough to make it shake.

Ash stared up at the forest that would mark the beginning of his journey and grinned. "Three."

xXx

Rhyhorn was surprisingly good at trotting along next to them. He was built for incredible charges that could shatter steel but his endurance was far from wanting - night was growing near and he hadn't gotten close to giving up yet.

Leaf had kept up a constant babble about Machop and all of the other pokemon she wanted to catch. Their entire friendship was built around pokemon and their love for it - though while she wanted to specialize, he wanted to be the best. She hadn't laughed when he told her what he wanted not only in his journey but for his life was to become the Pokemon Master - then again, she had followed Bruno religiously for many years and knew of seemingly unattainable goals.

For now, the conversation they had kept up rather easily began to slip away. He didn't have any other ideas to bring it back to life and so let it die, the only sounds their feet crunching against the dirt of early spring and Rhyhorn's occasional snorts.

The sun dipped lower and lower and Rhyhorn had begun to lag behind now. Ash recalled his friend, although Machop was easily able to keep pace with them. The only other trainers from Pallet, Gary and Derrick, were nowhere to be found. While it made sense Gary was behind them, Ash had been excited to battle Derrick and see just how strong his rare egg move sandshrew was. Few other trainers came down Route 1 unless they wanted to see Professor Oak and while several wild pokemon flitted about, Leaf just had Machop chase them away with its fists raised. Both of them wanted a good distance away from town before they started to slow by battling pokemon.

Ash was excited to finally reach Viridian City. When he did, the real challenge would begin. There were several hundred trainers traveling around every year, and most, if not all, were up for battles. Rhyhorn would grow stronger with training, but the real way to win was to battle.

The night grew more oppressive and Leaf began another topic to keep the silence at bay. Ash joined in, both flitting around before settling on the one thing they both loved - the Elite Four. Just last week the Indigo Conference had ended, letting the winner challenge the Elite Four.

Leaf paused during a particularly vicious description of Lorelei's lapras using sheer cold and stared around. Machop had frozen and tensed, fists raising and feet squaring off against the ground. It sensed something.

Ash settled a hand on Rhyhorn's pokeball but didn't let loose the less-than-quiet pokemon. After a moment, he heard it - the whispering buzz of wings somewhere to their left. Beedrill.

It seemed like only one, maybe two, probably scouts for the actual swarm. Several more moments later and the sound disappeared, flitting deeper into the forest. Leaf's scowl grew as she untensed.

"Beedrill." She scoffed, but there was worry in her eyes. "Machop could probably take down a few but it'd hurt. He doesn't have any moves that would be able to hurt them well. Why'd Mew have to make poison types resist fighting?"

"Rhyhorn wouldn't be too hurt by their attacks but there's no way he could knock out more than a couple. He only has one move," Ash admitted, frowning. He needed to start training Rhyhorn up to at least several more moves in order to be able to defeat even just the wild pokemon around here.

A grin appeared on his face. "Why'd you switch from begging your parents for a growlithe to a machop? When you were six, that's all you ever wanted. It could have helped us out here."

"Oh, shut it." She shoved his shoulder. "Although that's not as bad as _you_ trying to get Professor Oak to give you his tauros."

He winced at the memory and conceded defeat.

They walked on for a while longer before ending up at a small pocket of clear ground next to the route. After having Machop check the surrounding forest for anything too dangerous - he had come back once holding onto a caterpie, which both of them had laughed at before Leaf commanded him to let it go - they began to set up camp. Professor Oak had taught all of the trainers the basics of fires and warmth.

Ash frowned, setting down his bag and digging through the side pocket. After another moment, he reappeared with his pamphlet, grinning to Leaf's confused expression. "Rhyhorn is a ground type," he explained, flicking through the short bundle of papers to try and find something. "So, theoretically, he should be able to eat the dirt both for nutrients but also a fire pit."

Her eyes widened and she grinned back at him.

He found a passage a minute later, reading it aloud. Though Rhyhorn was a bit confused, Ash picked up a stick and scratched a circle into the ground, asking him to start eating from there.

It was rather strange to watch as beings that didn't eat dirt. Rhyhorn stretched out next to the circle and stuck his face in, eating it a bit like porridge. Leaf quickly taught Machop how to gather firewood before sending him out, his gray skin blending into the dusk almost as perfectly as if he had come from the trees instead of caves. Ash settled himself by reading the rest of the pamphlet in the rapidly fading light. He'd still have to feed Rhyhorn regular pokemon food, but the bulk of his meals would come from the ground itself. Neat.

After a while, Rhyhorn had eaten his fill. The pit was about a foot deep - a little too much for Ash's likings. He kicked some more dirt to raise it up a bit before waiting for Machop to return. Not too long after, the superpower pokemon reappeared with an armload of sticks, though most of them were too thick and looked like they had been broken off of trees, if the green wood was anything to go by.

Both of them had prepared for not having a fire type. Ash pulled out a bundle of matches, though it took two until he was able to light the tinder. After babying the small flame, a decent blaze flashed light around the clearing.

Their two sleeping bags were laid out, but Ash frowned at their water bottles. It was too dark to wander around the forest to try and find a source of water - they'd have to do it in the morning. Rhyhorn thankfully didn't need too much water, but if he started battling he'd need a fair amount.

Rhyhorn dug into his pokemon food with gusto, the small pellets disappearing quickly down his gullet. Machop ate his slower, though he seemed more displeased with the bland taste. It held all of the nutrients battling pokemon needed, though it rated much lower in appeal.

Leaf turned in quickly. Machop laid down next to her, ignoring the small blanket she had brought for him. Ash turned on his pokedex under the warm flicker of the fireplace and started to scroll through Rhyhorn's description.

Most trainers followed a certain path through their pokemon journey, at least those that started in Pallet and Viridian. They went north to Pewter, then east to Cerulean, then south to the main three cities, and so on. Most didn't even challenge some of the higher level gyms in order to get their eight badges.

Ash didn't want to do that. While none of the Pewter or Cerulean gym leaders were pushovers, they were used to rookies and adjusted their power accordingly. He'd never grow strong enough following the beaten path of every trainer before him. Besides, that was the path Gary was going down. While they were great friends, they had long since decided to battle each other as rivals. He couldn't be any sort of good rival if he just followed Gary around Kanto.

When he got to Viridian, he'd have access to other trainers he could ask advice from. He was going his own way, even if that meant splitting up with Leaf. Rhyhorn deserved to grow stronger.

He blinked for far too long one last time and decided it was time to fall asleep. The fire was barely embers now and he threw a few handfuls of dirt over it, easily putting it out. Rhyhorn rumbled at him as he clambered inside his sleeping bag, escaping the slight chill of the night. He turned to his friend.

"Can you wake me up when you can see the sun?" Rhyhorn frowned at the last word, but once Ash spent enough time describing it, he bobbed his head excitedly. Ash watched him contentedly as he circled around several times before stretching out, plates grinding lightly against each other.

Rhyhorn's spines rose and dipped as he breathed deeply, scarlet eyes closed. It was comforting to watch. Ash fell asleep before he realized it was coming.

xXx

Something cold touched his exposed arm once, twice. There was a grumble before it smacked into him again, nearly throwing him back. He jerked awake, beams of sunlight smacking him across the face.

Rhyhorn stood over him, eyes narrowed. He snorted a puff of dusty air into his trainer's face.

Ash coughed but was now fully awake. "Thanks. I'm up."

Leaf was being jostled - rather nicely - by Machop, eyes bleary but focusing quickly. They packed up their camp, fed themselves and their pokemon, and set off.

Rhyhorn had woken him up at around ten, which made sense. Their cover of trees had made it difficult to see the sun, but in the future he'd have to find some way to wake up earlier. Most pokemon trainers trained at night, after all of their traveling, so they wouldn't have exhausted pokemon while they were walking the routes. He needed to get in a fair amount of traveling before he started to train in the evening.

Time passed quickly. Sometime after noon they found a short stream and filled their water bottles. Ash's mother had bought him a rather enormous bottle of iodine solution, which helped to purify water. He squirted some into the bottles and let them sit for thirty minutes before they were ready to drink, though she had warned him the aftertaste might be a little strange. It was, but it was bearable.

Leaf spoke excitedly of Pewter City, where she was planning on catching her second pokemon. Her team was mostly planned out - she had five pokemon she was going to catch, Arceus be damned, and then a few extra slots for any others. Mankey could be found around Route 3 and she was ready to catch one of the fierce battlers. Machop looked a bit miffed at the topic.

Ash hadn't told her of his plan to find a different path to all of the gyms. It wasn't a topic he knew how to easily bring up. Maybe in Viridian, he'd find a way to tell her.

Now they had started to take the time to battle several wild pokemon. Most of them were wild rattata, which Rhyhorn shuffled to the side with his horn without even using an attack. He was able to swing his head to the side quickly, but when he tried to run after the pokemon, he couldn't turn very easily without slowing down.

"What are you doing to do about Brock?" He asked. Leaf perked up at the sound of his voice and scrabbled at her backpack, sleeping bag bouncing against her shoulders. In another second, she had pulled out a rather thick booklet with an enormous League symbol on the front. She flipped through the pages, Machop carefully steering her away from trees on the side of the path.

"They're weak to fighting moves, right? Machop's really steady on his feet so what I'm going to do is teach him karate chop and then maybe low sweep if I have time. It should be like fifteen days until we reach Pewter - that's what my mom said, anyway - and by then Machop'll be a real fighter! Brock won't stand a chance." She pumped her fist in the air, grinning as Machop copied the motion.

Ash nodded his head. It was a good strategy. "Are you going to catch another pokemon or just wait for a mankey?"

"I don't know." She shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe if I run against something awesome, but I'd really like to stick with fighting types. Although I'll have to change my name again - ugh, why didn't you guys stop me when I was obsessed with grass types? Leaf is a boring name."

They both laughed warmly. Another day passed them by, traveling quickly with few conversations. By the time it was night, they ran into the Resting Meadow - the halfway point of Route 1. It was simple, a wide, swath cleared patch of clearing in the middle of the forest with several picnic tables and a few premade fire pits stacked high with stones. A pond was tucked into the corner, which would make it much easier to refill their water bottles. But the best thing was the trickle of smoke that crept into the air - someone was already here.

Ash trotted forward, Rhyhorn's pokeball bright by his side. One of the fire pits were already burning, thin flames reaching toward the skies. A boy was stretched over one of the logs, drinking from his bottle. Derrick.

He looked up and waved as Ash grew nearer, face lit up by the fire. His sandshrew wasn't released but Ash could see the pokeball on his waist. "Hey, Ash."

"Hey. Want to battle?"

Leaf sighed but volunteered to watch the fire, sending Machop off to gather a bit more wood. Derrick stood, walking toward a more beaten part of the meadow. Ash followed him, grinning. The light was fading but what remained was plenty for a battle.

Derrick released his pokemon. It was small, maybe a foot tall, made of overlapping tan scales. Its ears twitched nervously.

Ash nodded and pressed his release button. Rhyhorn rumbled as he was released, voice deep and gravely, before narrowing in on the sandshrew. His growl was low as he squared up, plates creaking.

"Mud shot!" Derrick cried. His sandshrew squeaked as a chunk of dirt ripped itself up from the ground, dripping as energy shifted it into mud. Rhyhorn narrowed his crimson eyes but waited.

Ash answered quickly. "Horn attack." It wasn't like there was much else Rhyhorn could do.

With a bellow, his pokemon charged forward. The mud shot slammed into his face but it was only enough to slow his charge - few things could stop it. The sandshrew squeaked again and darted to the side, Rhyhorn's feet clipping it as he went sailing by. He ground to a stop and turned again.

Ash grit his teeth. Rhyhorn desperately needed new moves - he'd start training tonight. "Horn attack," he said again.

This time, the sandshrew wasn't able to move fast enough to dodge. It did tuck its arms and legs into its chest at its trainer's shout for defense curl, but even the position wasn't enough to stop Rhyhorn knocking it across the clearing like a rubber ball. Nearly at Derrick's feet, it rose again, wincing. The boy seemed a bit bewildered and wary but gave his next series of commands quickly.

Rhyhorn didn't need any more commands. He charged forward as the sandshrew's claws shined and scratched heedlessly at Rhyhorn's face as he plunged his horn into its softer underbelly. With a high squeak, it collapsed.

Derrick groaned but recalled his pokemon. Ash happily patted Rhyhorn's head as the pokemon trotted back to him, brushing off the drying mud over his plates. His pokemon wouldn't take a bath to save his life, given his extreme weakness to water, but he would probably find a patch of earth rubbed raw from Rhyhorn rolling around in it.

He accepted a small bundle of bills - the standard one vs one fee. "Thanks."

Derrick snorted, but there was a hint of frustration in his eyes. "Yeah yeah, you earned it." He stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked around for something else to talk about. Ash looked away, a bit of heat rising to his cheeks. "Come on, I think Leaf's starting to gather water. You want to divide food?"

He agreed, and they both walked back over to the fire pit. It crackled warmly, Machop's tinder sending it near sky-high, and Ash wondered whether he'd even need a sleeping bag as long as he was close enough. Reason won out as he tossed Rhyhorn several pellets of food - he only had to eat once every couple of days with his ground typing and slow digestion, but he had taken place in a battle.

Derrick released his sandshrew, which sagged limply on the ground. Digging through his bag, he pulled out a vial and screwed the sprayer onto open, leaning over the ground type to find the worst of the injuries. Potions had many properties - blood coagulants, pain medication, subclass bacteria made in a mockery of ditto cells - and they could be used on the road to heal basic pokemon wounds. After a moment, the sandshrew's dark eyes opened and it peered around, chittering softly.

Derrick murmured congratulations, patting it on the head as he walked back to the fire pit. Leaf looked up as they approached, a grin on her face. "Nice battle, Ketchum. You too, Dorobo. Either of you want to grab Machop? He's been out for a while."

"I'll do it," Ash offered. Derrick had a hint of anger in his eyes and Ash had never been the best at comforting people. He patted Rhyhorn on the back until he focused again, turning toward his trainer with a low rumble. "Come on, bud. Let's go. Try not to knock down any trees."

A dusty snort and then they both headed off into the forest. Ash struggled with his bag for a moment before finding his flashlight. It was still light but better not to risk it, in his opinion at least. Rhyhorn nearly snapped a tree in half with his frustrated movements but a stern look from Ash and he did his best to put it back.

There were several branches that had been broken off by punches, Ash could guess, and following the trail led them to one grey humanoid, bent over with a rather enormous pile of sticks in one arm.

"We didn't need that much," Ash said, ignoring the stick that Machop nearly launched at his head when the pokemon startled and stood up. "Just a little. Leaf wants you back."

The superpower pokemon glared at him but made no noises of complaint. He knelt and picked up his dropped stick, not dropping any of his others, before turning and marching quickly back through the woods without a backward glance. Ash snorted, a sound which Rhyhorn copied.

"He's only going to follow Leaf, isn't he? Her parents definitely picked one loyal pokemon." Rhyhorn rumbled in agreement before his spines twitched. His plates ground together as he lowered himself to the ground, scarlet eyes narrowing as he stared around.

Ash froze as well. Beedrill weren't normally nocturnal, but hunger did things to pokemon. Was that the buzz of insectoid wings?

No. It was a wild shriek, one filled with righteous fury. Ash only had to look up for a moment before the spearow perched on the tree Machop had been breaking apart lunged for him.

Rhyhorn sprang forward and took the hit. He grumbled but the bird's talons, however sharp, did little to his plates. "Horn attack!" Ash bellowed. "Hit it before it starts to call for others!"

The spearow started to swerve, taking to the skies, but Rhyhorn lunged forward into a charge and nailed it below the wings. Through sheer force of will, even as it plummeted, it shrieked out a warning before Rhyhorn got to it again. The second horn attack flung it against the trunk of the tree it had come from and knocked it out.

There were few creatures on this route that would willingly attack a rhyhorn, especially tiny birds like spearow that were known for only attacking when they had the strength of numbers. This bird wasn't having any of him on its territory. That was the kind of determination he could use on his team. He had a pokeball primed in a heartbeat before lobbing it at the collapsed creature.

Though the spearow had been knocked out, the pokeball twitched wildly with the force of its consciousness. Rhyhorn tensed back up after thirty seconds of flailing, but its struggles grew less and less before it clicked complete.

Ash grinned and scooped it up, admiring the bright surface. Rhyhorn rumbled, though his eyes narrowed at the pokemon that had attacked his trainer. Ash just grinned wider and patted him on the flank.

But the repercussions hit him quickly. Though the spearow had been choked off, the echoing shriek of its warning still flickered around the forest. He quickly clipped the pokeball to his waist and turned back to where his camp was, hat nearly snagged under a branch. "Come on. We've got to get back to camp."

Rhyhorn understood his worry and took the lead, bending and snapping branches and leaving a relatively clear path. In a much shorter time than it took for them to find Machop they had left the forest and appeared back by the fire pit.

Leaf blinked up at him. "What took you so long? Machop got back like five minutes ago." She jerked her thumb at the fighting type, who was training on karate chop by getting the branches into more manageable pieces.

"Oh, nothing." He grinned and held up his newest filled pokeball.

Her jaw dropped. "No!" Springing to her feet, she jumped forward and looked closer at it. "Hell kid, you beat me again! That's not fair. What is it?"

"A spearow. But I think it might have called a warning - I tried to knock it out fast enough but I really don't know."

Derrick stood at that, frowning. "We'll sleep in the cover of the trees, but I'm not hearing anything. Definitely don't call it out until we get out of this part of the forest at least. Keep your pokemon out tonight."

Machop seemed thoroughly put out as they kicked dirt over his fire, but was quick enough to sit down next to Leaf's sleeping bag. She still seemed in awe of the newest member on Ash's roster. "A flying type! Machop could still nail it, of course, but you neutralized its normal type weakness. Any ideas what moves it has?" She coughed lightly, and though he couldn't see her in the darkness he could imagine she was mocking him. "With your fancy-smancy pokecard, of course."

"Pokedex. I haven't had time to check it yet - I'll probably do it tomorrow."

Derrick snorted at both of them. "Get to sleep, will you? I'd like to make it to Viridian tomorrow."

There was no training tonight either, not with the threat of the spearow flock hanging over their heads. But Ash couldn't fall asleep for a long while. Spearow were far from sturdy, their official name even being the tiny bird pokemon, but they could throw all manners of attacks at their enemies from a far distance. It was the complete counterpart to Rhyhorn and exactly what he needed. Rhyhorn, as if sensing his thoughts, snorted again from his stretched out position next to Ash. He poked the ground type in the general direction of his face, which elected him a rumble.

He fell asleep with a grin on his face.

xXx

He woke up without one. Rhyhorn had done his best to get him awake but so tired as he was, it had taken a light stab from his horn to wake up. Ignoring the hissing pain from his leg, he sat fully up, eyes nowhere near adjusted to the dark, and heard the gentle beats of enormous wings.

As the light from the moon filtered through the trees and hit his eyes, he was able to see his friends, sitting stick straight with their pokemon beside them. Machop was flexing his arms but a glare from Leaf put a stop to it - no matter how strong they might think they were, they were nowhere near strong enough to take on a spearow flock with a fearow at its head.

The birds flew overhead, seemingly making sweeps of the forest. Just as Ash thought they were gone they swooped back around for another run of their part of the forest. He didn't dare turn on his pokedex and check the time for fear of the light, but the moon had left its peak in the sky by the time the flock didn't show up for a long enough time they felt comfortable enough falling asleep.

Every night sound sounded like the flap of wings. Every rustle was an emerging spearow. Every beam of light was glinting eyes. Even though it was just his paranoia, his newest filled pokeball seemed to shudder.

There was little sleep to be had that night.

xXx

The next morning dawned without them, exhausted as they were. Ash felt a light kick to his shoulder, which was soon replaced by a kick than nearly punted him around the clearing. Eyes fully open and completely awake, he swiveled back over to glare darkly at Leaf. She shrugged, looking innocent. "You weren't getting up. Come on. We've already lost enough daylight as is."

Ash turned back over to glare at the peacefully slumbering Rhyhorn, who seemed wholly unconcerned with how his trainer was woken up. Most likely because he hadn't seen it. He entertained himself with cheerful thoughts of a full-grown Rhyhorn carrying Leaf far away, shrieking.

His sleeping bag seemed heavier than normal, and his movements sagged as they each packed up and fed themselves and their pokemon. Rhyhorn still didn't need another serving of dirt, though he did eat what must have been a particularly tasty rock by the trunk of a tree. Ash snorted.

Their morning daze was sobered by the sight of the Resting Meadow. Dozens of talon imprints swarmed around the remains of their fire and one of the picnic tables had a gouge that could only have been done by an irate fearow. If Derrick hadn't pulled them into the forest to sleep last night, there was little doubt on their mind that they would have been found. Both thanked the boy profusely, who perked up at the praise.

Though it hadn't been officially decided, they all left toward Viridian together. Safety in numbers and all that, and Derrick was far from a terrible traveling companion. Though he was still a bit miffed at Ash's win over him, he was clever and popped back some witty comebacks to Leaf's remarks.

Those two were getting along like a house on fire. Ash was more than worried.

His spearow's pokeball was warm to the touch. Pokemon were put into a sort of muddled state for their consciousness, but he bet that the avian would be mostly healed by that night if they were far enough away from the fearow's territory that he felt safe releasing it. If not, it'd definitely be healed by Viridian.

The day passed rather quickly, but Ash's excitement skyrocketed a mere three hours into the journey. There were trainers along the route.

A few were powerful, with six pokeballs on their belt and a look that suggested they'd rather use Ash for target practice than battle him, but the rest were just as eager as him. Rhyhorn spectacularly cleared the majority of their competitors, though a poliwag brought him close. It only had one water move, bubble, but he was able to power through and slam it into the nearest tree.

Leaf fought a few, and Machop was no slacker. His low sweeps were something to be admired and when he was able to charge up with focus energy, there was little that his attacks couldn't bring down. Two battles named others victors but the rest gave him the crown.

Sandshrew got into even fewer battles, but its wins made up for its few losses. It had its egg move down to a point, which was rather uncommon, and even pidgey couldn't stand up to its assault. Derrick accepted all of his winnings with a smug, self-satisfied grin on his face.

Around noon, they stopped for lunch. Derrick had decidedly delicious looking sandwiches, though he winced and said they were from his father and he wasn't sharing. Ash and Leaf chowed down on their basic trainer meals while he stared at his pokemon's pokeball. It had started to quiver while he was walking - the spearow was obviously healed enough to want to fight, but the pokeball's forced daze didn't allow it to escape. Fearow had large territory and they'd all heard distant threatening shrieks, though no searching flock ever got close. He sighed and clipped it away. Later, maybe.

But by Derrick's backbreaking pace, they'd reach Viridian City before the end of the day. The boy loomed behind Ash's shoulder at every battle, waiting for him to finish so they could move on, and even though Rhyhorn was still raring to go after every battle, Ash eventually limited their battles in order to avoid Derrick siccing his sandshrew on him to get him to go faster.

The sun was threatening to slip beneath the horizon just as the dim roar of humankind reached the trio's ears. Rhyhorn immediately perked up and started a slow trot down the route, bellowing a challenge. Ash raced after him, patting his head and tugging on his spines as best he could. Rhyhorn slowed, staring up at him in confusion.

"Just a town," he explained. "There's a lot of people but it's nothing to worry about, Rhyhorn."

The ground type calmed, though he still snorted out a puff of dusty air. Leaf slapped him on the shoulder, Machop crossing his arms beside her. "Forgot your pokemon was just a baby, Ketchum. You're not a half-bad battler, I'll give you that."

He punched her back. She looked like she barely felt it, grinning.

Derrick coughed and they all snapped back to attention, turning to face what must be Viridian around the corner. After another ten minutes, the route switched to be more hard packed dirt, footprints easily visible. Another minute and Ash could make out where he, Derrick, and Professor Oak had teleported in. And there was Viridian City.

It was just as large as he remembered, strong and bold and imposing. Metal gleamed from nearly every corner.

Leaf and Derrick both sighed with relief but Ash was jittery - there wasn't a gym to challenge here that he had any chance at. Giovanni was a fearsome opponent who didn't believe in lowering his power for weaker challengers. Ash would end up fighting a steelix with his spearow if he tried to fight him. So that was a no.

But there were trainers here that could tell him everything he needed to find his own path through Kanto for his eight badges. Leaf barely had a minute to admire the sight before he grabbed her arm and started trotting into the city. Derrick followed at a more sedate pace, hand on his pokeball.

Rhyhorn was recalled quickly. Even though he wasn't full grown, he was still too large and clumsy and be around all of the people in the city. Derrick followed his example though Machop stayed out.

He hadn't ever been to a Pokemon Center, but Professor Oak had enough pictures of the red-roofed buildings that he was able to recognize it once he turned the corner. Pushing past an oncoming crowd of chattering people in suits, he pushed at the glass door and entered the air-conditioned building.

It was a large open room, lined with couches and tables. A door to the pokemon store was in the back and the desk that held Nurse Joy was in front. The pink-haired woman perked up as he walked in, a gentle smile on his face.

"Hello! How may I help you today?" She said, leaning forward on her desk.

Leaf pushed forward first, recalling a disgruntled Machop. "I think my pokemon are fine. You normally only heal really wounded pokemon, right?"

She nodded. "Pokemon heal much faster than humans, and some time in a pokeball will fix up their exhaustion or minor injuries rather quickly We take more serious problems here."

"Well, I don't think Machop needs that. He got a bit of a nasty slash but I sprayed a potion on it."

"That should be fine, dear." Nurse Joy swept her gaze to the rest of them. Derrick bobbed his head but didn't offer anything more, eyes shifting downward.

"I knocked a spearow out, but that was a couple days ago. Should it be healed by now?" Ash asked, patting the pokeball in question. It was warm to the touch, brimming with life and fierce determination.

"It should be perfectly okay, although I would ask you release it outside first instead of in here. They can take a while before accepting their new trainers," she cautioned, settling back behind her desk.

He thanked her, turning back to his group. "Regroup in an hour? I'd like to meet spearow and see how that goes." They both nodded back at him, splitting almost immediately. Leaf ducked toward the store in the back while Derrick went to ask about a room key.

Ash tapped his newest member's pokeball. It was time to meet it.

xXx

The sky was growing darker, but there was plenty of daylight in the training fields in the back. A few trainers were spotted around the large area, but he hung tight to the edge of the forest and found a relatively clear spot.

Rhyhorn rumbled happily as he was released, butting his head against Ash's thigh. He was going to be one big bruise by the time he won the Conference, but he just grinned and patted the ground type.

He voiced what he was going to do to his friend, and he immediately squared up and bristled his plates. His spines ground against each other, scarlet eyes narrowed. All in all, he was a rather intimidating pokemon. Ash couldn't wait until he was the full three and a half feet tall. With a click, he released his other pokemon.

It landed on the ground, staring around at the new environment. The moment it saw him, it squawked furiously before shrieking out a summoning cry to all other members of its flock. Smug in is victory, it turned to him and waited. Nothing happened.

Ash frowned. "Spearow, I captured you. You are now my pokemon, and there is no flock to hide behind anymore. Either you will let me make you strong and accept that I am your trainer, or I will lock you in your pokeball for the next year. What will it be?"

Spearow shrieked again before taking to the air, brown-red feathers cutting through the wind as easily as a magikarp in water. It swerved, launching itself in a mockery of quick attack toward Rhyhorn.

He rumbled but braced himself, silver claws digging into the earth. Spearow pushed him back a few inches but it just didn't have any force behind it, blunt beak scratching heedlessly at the thick stone plates. It let loose an almost impressive growl before taking off again, wings beating against the air.

Ash could see the thin beams of light blue energy lift off of its feathers and shoot toward Rhyhorn, glistening in a burst of enhanced wind. Not gust, but something different. No wonder it had been confident enough to attack Rhyhorn if it had a special move at its disposal.

Rhyhorn rumbled with pain at the attack. He was built against physical hits, not energy, but even that move didn't do much other than annoy him. Roaring a challenge to the flying type, he squared up and waited.

Spearow tried its wind move again. Rhyhorn shifted back but it wasn't enough. With a fearsome shriek, it dove again, talons extended. Ash recalled it before it came within a foot of his starter, releasing it immediately several feet away on the ground. Now that it wasn't soaring through the air, he was suddenly aware of how large he was compared to the tiny creature.

It stared up at him with bright black eyes. "You're weak," he started. "All of your moves and you couldn't hurt my starter. But if you come with me, I'll make you strong."

Its eyes flicked to Rhyhorn. After a moment, it sagged and conceded defeat, chirping softly. A fair amount of the fight had gone out of the bird, who shuffled against the trimmed grass and twitched its wings.

Ash unclipped his pokedex and held it in front of the pokemon. "I'm going to scan you. Stay still." It only took him a moment to lock the sensor onto the still bird's form and press the button.

 _Spearow, the tiny bird pokemon. They are a fiercely territorial pokemon - their summoning cry to their brethren can be heard from half a mile away. They compete constantly with pidgey for food and nests._

 _This spearow knows the moves peck, growl, fury attack, and razor wind. Its ability is keen eye, which prevents it from losing accuracy._

He nodded at razor wind - an egg move of some sort. It had the beginnings of a powerful pokemon, one he was going to take full advantage of. "Would you like a nickname?"

Rhyhorn grunted at the word but when Ash offered the same to him, he shook his head. His name was enough. Spearow, on the other hand, seemed to be considering it. As soon as Rhyhorn turned it down, the bird shrieked and bobbed its head.

Razor wind was a powerful move that summoned wind. "What about Gale? It's a wind strong enough to do some real damage."

A shriek was his answer. Gale puffed out its feathers - his feathers, Ash found out with the push of a button - but didn't take to the air. After another moment, he relaxed and let them fall flat. He stayed on the ground, staring up at Ash with those same angry eyes, even though he had no reason to be angry. It was just part of his face, it seemed.

He returned both of them to their pokeballs, preparing to head back to the Pokemon Center. Tomorrow, he'd ask around and find another route to the gyms before finding some way to break the news to Leaf. While they had known they wouldn't be traveling together forever, they hadn't expected to break apart so soon.

The ground shivered beneath him, like the pounding of dozens of feet, or a ground type asserting its dominance. Ash frowned and stared toward the training fields - only a staryu and a starmie were on them, both in the care of an orange-haired trainer, and neither of them could use earthquake.

Something flickered in the corner of his eye, and he turned just in time to see the ponyta herd barrel toward him.

Their manes burned with fury and panic as they stampeded over the ground, fire flickering from their hooves. They had no direction, just a primal fear that forced them in any direction it pleased.

He threw himself to the side, running as fast as he could. Heat washed over him and flames nipped at his heel as the herd raced by, dozens lined up one after another. They seemed to have come from the forest. There were no ponyta herds anywhere near here.

Ash had just made a step toward the safety of the Pokemon Center when the lead ponyta shrieked, wild and fierce. The herd slowed, hooves pounding, before they turned and raced toward the red-roofed building with fury in their movements.

He released Rhyhorn in a flash of scarlet - there was no way he would survive the attacks if they turned on him. Rhyhorn narrowed in on the herd in a second and rumbled, deep and gravelly. Indeed, not a moment later, two ponyta at the back of the herd twisted at his ground type's rumble and narrowed their eyes, manes sparking.

Rhyhorn could resist fire attacks well enough. "Horn attack!" He bellowed.

One of the ponyta charged, flames splitting from its mane to encircle its cream body. In only a second, it was surrounded by a blazing fire, its charge only accented by the hissing sparks.

Rhyhorn had no chance to dodge. The ponyta slammed into him, whinnying. It only had a second to stumble back before Rhyhorn lunged and slammed his horn right into its chest. Shrieking, it stumbled back, pawing furiously at the air while its brethren finished charging up a fireball and spat it at the ground type.

He hadn't faced many - any - fire types before in his life. Already parts of Rhyhorn's plates were charred and a thin layer of soot covered his face, though he bravely charged forward to slam another horn attack into the second ponyta's chest, throwing it back even farther.

The first rushed him before he had even made contact, leaping up to slam its hooves into his spine. He roared with pain, the vibrations from its diamond-hard hooves rippling through his entire body. The second staggered back upright from his horn attack and spat another ember, which exploded against his head and forced him to the side.

They were double-teaming him, and well. He needed a distraction.

Gale appeared with a shriek, wings spread and blinking rapidly. Ash gave him a moment to absorb the situation. "Time to test your mettle," he called. "Up! Razor wind! Aim for the one on the left!"

He took off, short red wings spread and glistening with the bluish energy. The ponyta glared at the newcomer but Rhyhorn took the opportunity to bodyslam into the second ponyta without even a move, throwing it to the ground. The first moved in to attack but a sudden burst of wind from above made it stagger, whinnying wildly.

At Ash's shouted command, Gale tucked in his wings and dove, beak shining. Fury attack landed on the back of the first ponyta with reckless abandon, ripping away fur and exposing the more sensitive skin beneath. It shrieked and its mane flared up, burning Gale's exposed wings. He took off almost immediately, primaries trailing a thin tendril of smoke before the wind put it out.

Rhyhorn bellowed from another hurried flame charge from the second ponyta, but his horn gleamed past the burns and slammed into the horse's flank, throwing it down. It struggled once more weakly before passing fully out, mane fading down to mere embers in the growing dark.

The second ponyta shrieked at the sight of its fallen comrade and charged Rhyhorn, hooves shining with stomp and an ember building in its mouth. His ground type faithfully turned to face it, bracing against the ground with his horn extended.

Gale launched a razor wind, but it was only enough to bluster the ponyta before it finished its charge and slammed its hooves against Rhyhorn's head plate. He roared and jabbed his jab at its underbelly. It punctured right past the skin and threw the fire type back half a dozen feet back, skidding against the rough terrain. There weren't any more movements as it collapsed against the ground.

Ash let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding before his mind clicked again. He scrabbled through his bag for a potion. He had been lucky - the two ponyta had left the rest of their herd but that didn't mean the others weren't coming as soon as possible, and Rhyhorn couldn't stand up to the dozens that had been there while injured, even with Gale distracting them. Just as he found one of the spray bottles, the click of hooves and the snort of fiery breath made him freeze and look up.

An enormous rapidash, one that easily towered over him, peered down at the twin collapsed ponyta. Its horn glinted brightly as it spat out a thin ember, which exploded harmlessly against one of the fire type's side. It didn't even stir.

It turned to him, black eyes shining. The flames spread down its back blazed up, shining with power. Rhyhorn bellowed and charged forward, earth trembling.

With a grace that he couldn't fathom, it leaped over his head and landed easily on the other side. It snorted a fiery breath as Rhyhorn, spun, confused, before rearing up and whinnying out a shrieking call.

Ash furiously called his pokemon over. Gale hovered for a second, frustration in his eyes, but his burnt primaries made it far from fun to fly. The ground put him at both Rhyhorn and Ash's mercy so instead he settled for the next highest perch - Ash's shoulder, talons digging through his thin shirt.

Rhyhorn rumbled by his side as Ash furiously poured the potion in the cracks between his plates. The rapidash stared at them almost curiously, horn glimmering in the fading sun, but it didn't attack or come closer. It stood guard over the unconscious ponyta, nosing at the wounds from Rhyhorn's horn.

Almost as soon as Ash finished applying the potion, something appeared toward the training fields. The staryu trainer had long-since fled but now a man jogged toward him, whistling sharply. The rapidash's ears perked up at the sound but it stood strong, mane flaring slightly.

Rhyhorn rumbled a warning as the man grew closer, scarlet eyes narrowed. Even Gale shrieked, the sound deafening from how close he was to Ash's ear.

But then the man held up two pokeballs and the ponyta disappeared in a flash of crimson. The rapidash neighed and trotted up to him, butting its neck against his side. He grinned and stroked just underneath its sparking mane.

"Who are you?" Ash said, still tensed. Gale spread his wings, ready to take off again, but the man hurriedly shook his head and held up his hands in a position of surrender.

"I do apologize! My name is Gideon Jobane. This is all a big misunderstanding."

Ash's eyes narrowed.

In another flash of light, the rapidash disappeared into the man's hand. "Again, I'm really very sorry. See - I have no pokemon with me. The rest of the ponyta were recalled, but I sent my rapidash to find the two stragglers. Thank you for knocking them out. They could have caused quite a bit of damage to themselves."

"What happened?" He tapped Rhyhorn's head and the ground type relaxed, only slightly, but he was still squared up and ready to charge. Gale lowered his wings, still trailing smoke, and narrowed his keen eyes.

Gideon frowned, eyebrows coming together above his nose. "This is my herd of ponyta. I breed and raise them for trainers and such, but some people in black outfits stormed my farm and drove them mad," he spat. "My rapidash was able to find and calm them down but not until after they reach Viridian. I wish I would have been able to catch those idiots who thought it would be smart to mess with a fire type herd."

"Oh." Ash frowned. "Who would do that?"

"I have no idea, but thankfully I capture all of my pokemon as soon as they hatch so I prevent thieves from snatching them out in the fields. Otherwise they'd all be gone." His tone was both furious and frustrated. Gideon swept a hand through his hair that was so dark it was almost blue. "I'll tell the news everything I can but I don't think they'll be caught. They ran as soon as they couldn't catch my pokemon."

He brightened, if slightly. "Your team has to be hurting after standing up to my pokemon. Come on - I'll show you to the Pokemon Center. You're a trainer, right? If not, I'll pay for your healing myself."

"I'm a trainer." The man seemed to have switched gears quickly. "I do know the way to the Center-"

"Nonsense! It's the least I can do." Gideon started to walk quickly and Ash shrugged before following. Gale shrieked at the motion, scratching at Ash's neck with one talon, but he calmed down at Ash's narrowed eyes. Rhyhorn rumbled along beside them, soot trailing from his plates.

There was a camera crew around the training fields, made of three people. Two men spoke with microphones while a woman angled the camera down toward the dying embers and imprinted hoofprints over the dirt, armed with several lights to counter the disappearing sun. They both straightened as Gideon grew nearer, eyes lighting up.

"Ah! And here's the man himself, once again!" One of the reporters sprang up, the camera following him smoothly. "Everyone, for a refresher, this is Gideon Jobane, owner of the ponyta herd and close friend of our very own gym leader, Giovanni. Sir, what just happened when you ran away just five minutes ago?"

Gideon strood forward, smile warm. Ash crept away from the bulky black camera, Rhyhorn lumbering beside him as quietly as he could.

"My rapidash alerted me to the fact it had found the last two ponyta that had broken away from the main herd. They were giving my friend here a hard time, but he was able to fight them off. Now I can say that every one is accounted for and safely in their pokeball!"

The camera swung toward him despite his attempts to move away. He managed an awkward wave before turning away again. The reporter looked like he wanted to pursue him but found a juicer story with Gideon. "Before we were interrupted, you were telling us what those dastardly men looked like. Care to pick up your description?"

Ash used the distraction to flee.

xXx

"And your spearow's wing is just burnt, correct?"

He nodded at Nurse Joy. She accepted the two pokeballs and set them on a side counter, turning back to him. "I can promise them back in the morning - from what you've told me, it doesn't sound like they were very injured. Maybe don't let your spearow fly for several hours, but he should be just fine. Thank you for getting them checked up! Would you like a key?"

Ash took the wide bronze key, which had his room number inscribed on the side. Hooking it on one of the various spots on his belt, he thanked her again before walking away. Now that he wasn't in the battle, he sighed at the now useless potion he had used. While it would have kept Rhyhorn fighting, he was getting his pokemon checked up with Nurse Joy anyway.

He had barely made it three steps up the stairs before Leaf barreled into him from behind, nearly slamming him onto all fours. "Ketchum! I left you alone for barely ten minutes. How the hell did you already get attacked?"

The laugh rose quickly through him as he spun around to face her. "I swear, it was nothing. Rhyhorn and Gale were able to knock them out pretty fast and then Gideon came over and collected them. Nurse Joy is going to heal them up tonight and they'll be fine in the morning."

Leaf switched topics faster than an arcanine. "Then we seriously have to work on your news face. I mean, really? A wave? No proudly declaring your name and that you'll be glad to help anyone else? Hell, kid, you should have at least dragged some sort of compensation out of the Jobanei guy."

"Jobane," he corrected. "Where did you see that?"

She pointed over to the crowd of couches, where two thin televisions stood on tables. They were currently showing Gideon's face as he spoke passionately about what had happened. Ash winced.

Leaf noticed the moment his adrenaline rush wore off, though the effects were easy to notice. He visibly sagged, closing his eyes for a minute too long. A grin curved her lips. "Come on, off to bed with you."

"I can't go to bed yet," he protested. "I haven't called my mom yet."

Leaf looked like she wanted to argue a bit more, but she knew Delia Ketchum. Sighing, she pointed him toward the videophones in the back and went back to watching the television. He thanked her and walked over.

Scanning his Trainer ID, the screen flickered to life and brought up a number page. It took him nearly five minutes of scrolling but he finally found the Ketchum Household, saving it to his favourites before clicking _call_.

Its melody chirped quietly through the Center. He wondered briefly whether it was too late for his mother to pick up before the screen switched suddenly to a white color that meant someone had picked up. "Hello, Ketchum residence."

"Hey, Mom."

Barely a second had gone by before the screen switched to his mother's wide, smiling face. "Ash! You made it!"

He smiled back at her. "I just got here around thirty minutes ago. I'm traveling with Leaf Chikara and Derrick Dorobo - do you know them?"

"Of course, honey. I know just about everyone in this town," she teased lightly. "But that's great! Did you have any problems? I heard there was a nasty little pikachu around the beginning of Route 1."

"Well, I did catch a pokemon. A spearow. His name is Gale." He almost reached down to release the pokemon before realizing that he was with Nurse Joy and settled for smiling. "He helped me take down a ponyta herd that had gotten loose."

He saw her eyes widen before narrowing and leaped it to contain the damage. "It wasn't that bad! Some people made this guy Gideon's herd angry and they went toward town. I only fought two ponyta and my pokemon are already at the Center. Everything is fine!"

"If you say so, Ashy," she said, though her eyes were still narrowed. "Are you sure you're okay? Is Giovanni back from the League business?"

He shook his head and she smiled softly, before suddenly breaking into a yawn that seemed to take up the entire screen. "Well, I've got to get to bed. Sorry to cut this short, Ashy, but the restaurant's been getting more customers than normal. Call me from the next city! I love you!"

The call cut off. He smiled and shut the videophone off, his own yawn loud.

Leaf appeared from behind him, arms crossed. " _Now_ , off to bed. Tell me everything else in the morning."

"I already told you," he protested, but let her drag him up the stairs and toward his room. Unlocking it, he said his goodnights before immediately jumping into the shower. It was short and brisk, but three days of traveling had left their marks that he was happy to wash away. He fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

xXx

Ash danced around a bit nervously in the cafeteria section of the Pokemon Center. Nurse Joy, while handing back his pokeballs, had said that Gideon had wanted to talk to him once he woke up.

After only a couple more minutes that had Ash fold his napkin into a strange variety of shapes, the man appeared into the room with a wide grin. Now that it was fully light, he could see the dark clothing and leather vest he wore. Three pokeballs were on a string around his neck.

"Ash! Nurse Joy was kind enough to give me your name," the man said as a greeting, sliding into the seat opposite of him.

"Why did you want to see me?"

Gideon shrugged. "Just to offer some advice, I guess. A trainer for only four days and you took down a few of my ponyta - its a trait to be admired, and I'd like to help. Besides, I was planning on meeting Giovanni but he's not here, so you're the last task I'm wrapping up here before I go back." He shook himself before grinning.

"So! Any questions? I have plenty of knowledge for a beginning trainer such as yourself," Gideon winked.

Ash did actually have something to ask. "I'm collecting the eight badges to challenge the Indigo Conference, but I don't want to start with Brock and do the same path as everyone else. I just don't know where else to start, or how to get there."

Gideon's eyes narrowed in thought. "You've got a rhyhorn and a spearow, right?" At Ash's nod, he continued. "Brock would be a bit of an issue, but you could fight him successfully then skip Cerulean and go on. There's always Cinnabar Island, although the cost of renting a boat at this stage in your journey-" his wince was shared by Ash. All of his funds, even the ones that he hadn't earned yet, would be sucked into that endeavor.

"Well." Gideon's eyes suddenly brightened. "Have you ever heard of the Diglett Cave?" Ash shook his head. "It's a pokemon and man-made tunnel that stretches through a little cave system. The ol' League doesn't take as much care over it when compared to Mount Moon or the like, but it'll be plenty of protection for you. They hardly watch it at all except for where it counts."

That sounded far better than any plan of his. "Where can I find it?"

"Six-ish days into the Viridian Forest, as long as you stay on the path. Take a turn left when you see the sign, you can't miss it unless someone else had their pokemon knock it down for fun." He rolled his eyes. "Happens more than I like."

He steepled his fingers over the table. "It'll drop you off toward the end of route 11, only a day or two away from Vermillion City, and at Vermillion, they train-"

"-electric types," Ash said, grinning. Rhyhorn not only was a ground type but he also had lightning rod as an ability. While Gale would be at a disadvantage, that didn't matter if his starter steamrolled the competition.

Gideon nodded. "Bit of a sucky journey but I have no doubts you'll make it through just fine. As for your pokemon, a few more tips. Your rhyhorn won't take too much to learn basic physical moves - stomp, fury attack, things like that. I'd give it a couple of days each. But spend a fair amount of time on rock and ground moves, which you'll need to take down Surge. Your spearow needs some serious buffing - get it some moves that'll put some force behind it. Maybe pursuit or aerial ace. Those will put some actual weight behind its words, if you know what I mean." Gideon stretched, leaning back. "I'll take my leave, if you will. The farm calls." He smiled one last time before standing up from the table, vest nearly catching on the edge before he jerked it away.

"Six days," Ash repeated as he watched the man walk away.

Now he had a plan, which also meant he had to break it to Leaf. Sighing, he walked outside and prepared for that conversation.

xXx

Leaf and Derrick actually took it much better than he would have thought. He had cornered them just as they finished buying the last of their supplies - he had woken up early so he wouldn't slow them down buying his own - and on the way to Route 2 had told them everything. Leaf had a steely gleam in her eyes but Derrick seemed indifferent. The boy had never warmed up much after he had beat him in a battle. Leaf pulled a joke about him closing his doors just like Kalos, and that had resulted in a delightful little chase around the streets of Viridian.

But, as Leaf had said, he wasn't leaving yet. With that thought in mind, they entered the thick forest of Route 2.

It was a different place entirely from Route 1. The trees made it feel crowded, even though they were cleared a few feet from the actual route. Rattata scampered almost constantly around them, pidgey swooping through the trees to screech warnings. The sun only appeared in bursts, the rest gelled a light green by the leaves.

The largest - and best - difference was the trainers. Mainly the fact that they were actually here.

Ash must have battled a dozen or more on the first day alone. While a few were trainers starting out their official, League-recognized journey - he ran into the trainer from Viridian that had gotten the female nidoran - most were bug catchers. They hung around Viridian Forest for most of the years and tried to train the easy-to-catch pokemon into beings that could generate them all the money they'd ever need.

The trio was quite happy to cut them down a few notches. Derrick battled the least yet again, only choosing the battles he knew he would win, but Ash threw himself full force into every trainer that passed by. His streak continued on.

Gale finally accepted him after seeing Rhyhorn rip into an enemy beedrill. The bird had been stuck to Ash's shoulder for the first day because of Nurse Joy's warnings, but every time after that he took to the skies and shrieked warnings to anything that dared challenge him. He saw his fair amount of use - his pecks were vicious and he could take out most pokemon teams without breaking a sweat.

The bug trainers were the worst example of Kanto trainers. Only a few had anything to challenge them, as they went after the easy caterpie and weedle instead of grabbing _anything_ else.

Ash was able to rake in a fair amount of cash, which only made him more ready. Each of the trainers he fought made him more excited for the next.

At night, they trained. He let Leaf and Derrick use his pokedex for when they started to train, as he scanned it while they were walking. Both had books, but the device was simpler to use and generated more results. Leaf had stolen it for nearly ten minutes while showing Machop a video of another pokemon using karate chop.

Derrick had decided on training his sandshrew's other moves first, but eventually, he'd start on rapid spin to get away from more enemies, though it almost seemed like it didn't need it. During the training, it was clear his sandshrew was able to use its claws when it wanted to.

Machop made more progress. His instincts were made to use karate chop and the videos Leaf had found didn't hurt. After a mere couple of hours, his hand had started to shine rather brightly when he attacked the tree.

Ash had focused on Gideon's advice. Rhyhorn took to stomp easily enough - while he didn't have the bulk of a fully grown rhyhorn, his feet were strong enough and rocks shattered under his weight. Fury attack was giving them a bit more trouble, but normal type moves were among the easiest to learn. There was no energy involved in the physical ones.

Gale was given the task of perfecting his other moves. His training at this point seemed to just be hurtling himself at any surface while shrieking furiously and while that worked for most of the bugs, Ash made sure to refine his methods.

Days passed quickly. A steady clock ticked in the back of his mind, and by the time they had reached day six he was jittery with nerves. Gale was searching overhead for any sort of entrance, but it would be just his luck if he managed to miss the entrance to the Diglett Cave.

Finally, he found a thin sign tucked away into the undergrowth. He might have missed it if Gale hadn't dived from above and perched smugly on top, chirping. It proclaimed the Diglett Cave was to the left with a large arrow.

Leaf sighed, more than a little downcast. But she hid it quickly and pounded him on the shoulder in her typical goodbye. "Well Ketchum, I'll see you as soon as I can. Machop'll beat your rhyhorn and your spearow, no doubt about that!"

"We'll see." He grinned back. It was another second before they broke and hugged each other - it had been a very long time since either of them had been any more than a block away, and now the distance would be increased to an entire region. He shook hands with Derrick, said his true final goodbyes, and set down the much thinner road.

It was a short walk - less than an hour - before Gale swooped suddenly ahead and shrieked. Not a moment later, he stumbled across the entrance to the Diglett Cave. It was a hole carved into the earth, concrete stairs leading down with a steel rail on the side. The sunlight sliced through the shadows but it was clear that once he went in, he wouldn't be able to see much with the sun. But the electric lights on the side of the tunnel looked promising.

The entire cave was around ten feet tall and mostly circular, but one thing was clear. Gale, even with his powerful eyes, wouldn't be able to fly without crashing into every wall on every turn. The spearow shrieked and puffed out his crest, but after Ash explained it, he accepted being recalled with only little complaint.

With Rhyhorn at his side, he stepped into the cavernous maw of the tunnel.

xXx

The darkness was pressing, but he quickly adjusted as best he could. Blue League lights were attached to the walls, wires hidden in tiny pockets drilled into the wall. They were created to mimic moonlight as best as man-made things could be as to not disturb the hundreds of diglett and the line that lived in the caves.

His pokedex hadn't been kidding when it had talked about the number of the ground type evolutionary line.

Diglett were moles that were about eleven inches long, though only the top five inches were normally seen when they poked their bulbous heads through the ground. They spent around 87% of their lifespan underground, swimming through the dirt as easily as water. Their evolution grew two more heads - though researchers still couldn't figure out _why_ \- but still mainly stayed beneath the earth.

Except in the Diglett Cave, where they roamed free.

He ran into his first labour of diglett half an hour in. They chittered at him, black eyes flashing in the beam of his flashlight. Four dug beneath the earth almost immediately but two more stared distrustingly at Rhyhorn, who glared right back.

By the end of the first day, he had run into nearly half a hundred. He never got within more than five feet before they scurried away, but a trainer dedicated enough to catching one would have plenty of options.

The good side was how happy his starter was. Rhyhorn was a ground type, and rumors spoke of his kind having been carved from stone itself. Being under thousands of pounds of earth carved by foot long moles made him feel more comfortable than open air ever could.

Ash did not feel the same. It was cold and damp but not enough that it could be called miserable, stale air filling his lungs. He could feel dust swirling around him with every step, no rain to weigh it down, and there would be no comfort from a fire at night when there wasn't any wood for miles. That was without the fear of the tunnel itself. He would gladly turn right around if he didn't know this was what he wanted.

Then there was training. While Rhyhorn picked up fury attack within another few days, the presence of all of the earth sped up his next moves tenfold. He wouldn't even think about any sort of ground move - not while in the tunnel - but the easiest rock type move for Rhyhorn learn was coming along nicely.

Smack down was a relatively simple move, or at least that was what his pokedex told him. Rhyhorn would summon thick dirt and throw it at his opponent, weighing them down to the point it would pull flying types out of the air. So far, he had been able to pull up dirt from around him, though the act of 'throwing' it was still rather weak.

He released Gale every night, even though he couldn't do much training. It could mess up a pokemon's mind to be in their pokeball for too long, and the week that it would take to get through the Diglett Cave was far too long for his spearow. The avian shrieked constantly whenever he was out, feathers puffed up and crest flared, but he was scared. There were no skies in the pits on the earth.

There was no way to tell the passage of time. He glanced down at his pokedex and saw it was nearly nine, which explained his eyelids that felt heavy enough to fall right off of his eyes. Calling Rhyhorn off of his training, he spread out his sleeping bag and tucked everyone in closer. Gale shrieked as he was forced to hop off of Ash's shoulder, sharp eyes easily picking apart the dark of the cave with the thin light of the light above them as he landed. It was no substitute for the actual moon, but the gentle blue rays helped lull him to sleep faster than the other nights.

xXx

Seven days passed slowly in the darkness. He had only stumbled across one other trainer, someone several years older than him. There was no way they could battle safely in the dark and cramped spaces, so they merely exchanged greetings and how many days it had been since they'd went it.

Rhyhorn had - he guessed - mastered smack down. It was an almost extremely easy move to learn, utilizing only the most basic of rock type power, but it would hopefully be the cutting edge between victory and defeat in the Vermillion Gym. Gale hadn't been able to much other than attack the ground with pecks and fury attacks, but he was getting stronger as well. Both of them were.

His first guess was when the League lights began to disappear, blue light fading away and his flashlight the only thing keeping him from stumbling into squeaking masses of diglett. Rhyhorn rumbled into the darkness, plates grinding, but Ash only sped up, days of exhaustion put on hold as warmth touched his skin. Warmth he hadn't felt since he'd entered the Diglett Cave.

An hour later, the ground swerved sharply up and he emerged into bright light. He was extremely thankful he'd read the pokedex inscription on the subject - after spending so long below in almost complete darkness, coming straight up into sunlight had the chance to instantly blind him. He wrapped three cloths around his eyes and used Rhyhorn to navigate, stumbling around in a manner _most_ ungraceful. As soon as his starter told him he was in the light, it had been nearly twenty minutes before he was able to adjust well enough to take the cloths off. When he did, he ran forward and laid down on the sun-warmed dirt, sighing up at the brilliant blue sky. Pidgey chirped on either side and an actual breeze stroked his cheeks. He was never taking this for granted again.

Gale was released only a moment later. The bird prepared himself for the darkness of the cave but shrieked in delight as sunlight hit him, spreading his wings and taking off almost instantly. He challenged all other pokemon with a vicious shriek, burning with the joy of being outside.

Ash winced. It had been the hardest on his spearow. Gale just wasn't meant to be inside anything in the ground. Rhyhorn had enjoyed it but, on the other hand, he didn't mind being outside - that same could not be reversed of Gale.

They relaxed for nearly an hour before starting their way towards Vermillion City. All three of them were raring to go. In the darkness of the cave, he hadn't noticed the loss of Leaf and Derrick, but now it struck him harder than ever. They had bonded on Route 1 and some of Viridian Forest.

Ash challenged every trainer he came across. Gale was particularly vicious and Rhyhorn had been able to rip a pidgey out of the sky with smack down. Both of them were ready and raring to fight, and a steady sum of funds funneled their way into Ash's pocket.

Their fire burned high that night and both threw themselves into training. Ash did the best research he could on the Vermillion City gym. It trained electric types, he knew that, and its leader was Lt. Surge. There wasn't much information about him on the pokedex, which was mostly only for pokemon information, but the page or so about the gym helped him nonetheless. He was a powerful, fierce man who was known for using his electric types to their full potential in every battle he was a part of. There was no mention of how he had gotten the ranking Lieutenant.

Ash frowned. That stood out rather starkly to him. Clicking on the man's name, he searched through his basic bio but found nothing on any sort of war or military training. The League's page yielded no other results either.

The man's page was strangely blank as well. Most gym leaders listed a few of their pokemon as to give new trainers a chance - though Giovanni did no such thing - but Surge had nothing but times, location, and a picture of his badge. There was no picture of himself either on the page, just an expanded picture of his Thunder Badge.

Even as he searched on for other information of Kanto's electric types, he frowned. The League wanted their trainers to be prepared, but the glaring holes in Surge's bio spoke otherwise.

He didn't find anything else for the rest of the night.

xXx

The next day, he stumbled blearily into Vermillion City. Gale shrieked and dove from the sky, landing with talons curled on his shoulder. He was a mere four pounds, maybe a little more, but Ash knew he'd start gaining weight as soon as he was ready to evolve. Already his crest had lengthened somewhat, though not nearly enough for Ash to start looking for the more visible signs. Rhyhorn lumbered up beside him, rumbling distastefully at the large city. The chatter of hundreds of people had never appealed to him.

Vermillion City was even larger than Viridian. Skyscrapers lunged upward with the force of hundreds of tons of steel, windows gleaming. The sun shone sharply from above, lighting the paths with the glimmering orange of day, clumps of people schooling around as they walked downtown.

But no. The greatest thing was the _water_.

Pallet Town had access to the ocean, but it was a day's walk away and Ash had only seen it a few times in his life. This was a town built for its ocean view, sea breeze thick and cloying over the entire city. Clouds hide none of the sun's intensity and the thick scent of salt and brine nearly swallowed him whole.

He loved it.

There were probably dozens of trainers out on this road alone and he wanted to battle them all - but not yet. He was here for something very different right now. His pokemon weren't injured, though Gale had gotten a nasty vine whip from a bellsprout, and both of them were ready to throw themselves fully onto the gym battle that was sure to come. But his backpack was far from light with his sleeping bag and all of his supplies, so he wanted to drop it off first at the safest place for a trainer.

The Pokemon Center was the same red-roofed quaintness here as it had been in Viridian. It took him nearly twenty minutes of wandering around in awe of the huge city before he was able to find it, but he was grateful for the break from the pounding sun as the cool air from inside washed over his face.

Nurse Joy smiled warmly at him as he entered. "Just a room, please," he asked, holding out his wrist. He slid it under the scanner, waiting for the pleasant chirp that marked him as a trainer that got room and board paid for by the League. She nodded her head and passed him a bronze key, pointing the way up the stairs.

There was no Leaf to greet, but he still looked around the room with appreciation. It was no Pallet Town, but the bed was undoubtedly softer than any hard-packed earth with only a sleeping bag to protect his back. The beanbag for his pokemon would be plenty for Rhyhorn, and the gnarled branches used for perches would make Gale happy, at least.

Dropping off his bag, he stretched a few times and splashed water in his face. Both of his pokemon were ready on his waist, having been prepared when Ash recalled them. Lt. Surge wouldn't know what hit him.

It took another ten minutes and several instructions from Nurse Joy and other passersby before he found the gym, although once he saw it he wondered how he hadn't noticed it before. It was an enormous building, stretching up high. Different steel lightning bolts were raced over its surface, the tops tipped with lightning rods presumably to power the gym and feed its various electric types.

There was no one by the doors, so he laid his shoulders into them and pushed. They must have been four feet taller them him but they swung open surprisingly easily. Stepping in, he let them swing close behind him and stared around.

He hadn't ever been in a gym before, but they were impressive. Several stories high for fliers, high-quality stone making up a pathway around the wide ground floor that made up the battlefield. It would certainly be better than anything he'd ever fought in before, that was for sure. A referee looked up as he walked in, sitting safely behind a plastic shield on one side of the battlefield.

A door in the back opened, and a man stepped out. Ash blinked - even from an entire battlefield away, it was easy to see he was nearly seven feet tall, spiky blond hair pushing up a few more inches. Ash was dwarfed by nearly _two feet_ , and boy did he not like it. Surge made no effort to hide his height or muscles, muscle shirt cut to free his arms and army green shorts unrestricting.

Ash stood as tall as he could, eyes narrowed. The man's personality looked like it would match his appearance, if the arrogant smirk over his face meant anything.

"Huh, a baby." Surge scratched at his stubble, entirely unconcerned. "Normally they're taller before they challenge me, or maybe you haven't learned a lesson yet." His grin showed all of his teeth.

"My name is Ash Ketchum, and I'm here to challenge you for the Thunder Badge." Surge grew closer, forcing him to look almost straight up, but he refused to let the man force him back. He wouldn't give up.

"And how many badges do you have? Two, I'm guessing, for a runt. Go listen to the stories and come back when you're worth my time."

He narrowed his eyes further. "I don't have a badge yet. I'm hoping you might be enough of a challenge to make me actually have to try and get one."

Surge barked out in surprised laughter. His grin faded from sharp edges into something more broad and pleased. "A teething baby, but a baby nonetheless. Fine. Get on the field. Two on two, or do you only have one pokemon?"

"Two on two." He stalked toward the closer side, letting Surge lope over to his side with casual, easy steps. The man made everything look easy, even as he grabbed a pokeball from a nearby bench and pressed the release.

A small pikachu appeared on the field. It twitched its long ears, looking around before focusing on Ash. Despite its size, its growl was surprisingly deep.

Ash released his starter and took pride in how Surge's eyes widened. Rhyhorn bellowed his arrival at the pikachu, who only narrowed its eyes and let its tail whip around its body, sparking softly. "Damn. Viridian or Lavender? Heard they were offering a few rhyhorn as starters."

"Pallet Town."

Rhyhorn squared up, horn poised. Ash let Surge finish signaling the referee before lunging into the attack. "Horn attack!"

With a roar that shook the stone beneath him, Rhyhorn charged across the field. Pikachu zipped out of the way, but if the narrowed eyes on Surge's face were anything to go by, the strategy wouldn't work for long. Rhyhorn's typing had probably taken away most of Pikachu's long-range moves, which meant it had to get close.

"Quick tail." Pikachu instantly reacted and flung itself across the field, silver building around its tail. Rhyhorn lunged to the side and managed to avoid the iron tail that cleaved a hole in the ground.

Rhyhorn hip-checked the electric type, slamming it back to where it laid on the ground, struggling to get up through its daze. He lunged forward and reared up as best as he could, coming down and jabbing Pikachu right in the chest with his powerful horn. For good measure, he tried to use stomp on its chest but Surge recalled it before then with narrowed eyes.

"Well shit kid, wasn't expecting that. I don't ever take it easy, but you might have the balls to handle this." With a grin, he tapped the release button on another pokeball. Before the pokemon had even formed, Surge called out, "Count yourself damn lucky my raichu's still resting. 'Course, you'll have enough trouble with this one."

The pokemon was tall, maybe three feet. Yellow fur overlined with jagged black slashes that looked more like wounds than stripes. Barbs stuck out from the top of its head, twitching.

Then there was the fact Ash could _feel_ the electricity as soon as it came onto the field. Jabbing its fists together, it grinned as Ash's hair on his arms stood straight up. There was no doubt in his mind. Gale had no chance against it. Rhyhorn had to knock it out.

Rhyhorn shivered. His ability trumped his typing and he could sense the electricity crackling over his body as it traveled up to his horn, where it would wait until he used it or it dissipated.

Surge counted on Ash's shock and took the first move. "Low kick. Punch that pretty horn in if it gets too close."

Electabuzz was slower than Pikachu, but that still put it a slice above Rhyhorn. His friend valiantly bellowed a challenge and lowered his horn, but Electabuzz sidestepped him smoothly. With its foot glowing, it kicked Rhyhorn's front leg out from under him.

Rhyhorn bellowed as he was thrown to the ground. "Smack down!" Ash shouted, fists clenched.

Electabuzz padded over the struggling pokemon, kicking out again and landing a hit directly on Rhyhorn's spines. The ground type roared in pain but Electabuzz, in its victory, never noticed the dirt rising in clumps around Rhyhorn's horn.

Surge narrowed his eyes, but Rhyhorn got to his feet and spun around, furious. The smack down slammed into Electabuzz's shoulders and forced it to its knees, eliciting a hiss of surprise.

Electabuzz's fur crackled as it tried to push the heavy dirt off of its shoulders, but Rhyhorn had charged long before then. He slid into fury attack, jabbing and slashing with his horn as best he could. Electabuzz screeched with pain.

Surge bellowed a command. Ash's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to shout for Rhyhorn to get away, but it was too late. Electabuzz's fist was slowly covered with frost, chilling the air around it. Rhyhorn stepped back a moment too late as Electabuzz's fist caught him right below his chin.

The chill froze his muscles and he struggled a step back, but Electabuzz was done playing. Teeth bared in a vicious snarl, it leaped forward again and slammed two more punches below Rhyhorn's chin. They were enough to throw him upside down, wriggling on his back.

Ash shouted out, but there was nothing he could do. Electabuzz hopped up and landed on Rhyhorn's chest, eliciting another bellow of pain. The ground type scratched him with his silver claws but Surge's pokemon was confident in its victory and did nothing to stop the weak attacks.

"You're welcome to forfeit," Surge called, a wide grin on his face. Electabuzz grinned back, just as arrogant, and punched Rhyhorn again, almost indenting him into the ground of the battlefield.

Ash was reaching for his pokeball when he noticed something. Electabuzz had the static ability, which meant they had a constant stream of electricity running over their bodies. As Electabuzz stood on Rhyhorn's chest, that electricity was being sucked into the ground type's body and subsequent horn. It was beginning to spark, but just slightly. "Hold it in, Rhyhorn!" He shouted. "Just a little longer! "

Surge scoffed. "Electabuzz, wreck it."

The electric smirked and raised its arms just as Ash shouted, "Release!"

Rhyhorn had gotten his tip and, with a shriek like grating stone, pulled his head forward and released a blast of electricity from his horn. It lit up the battlefield, uncontrolled and untamed, but it slammed unhindered into Electabuzz's chest and threw it backward. Rhyhorn rocked until he was able to flip over, roaring.

"Horn attack! End it!" Ash shouted.

Electabuzz hardly had a moment to look up before Rhyhorn slammed his horn into its yellow chest and threw it back. It didn't get back up.

Ash blinked as Rhyhorn immediately sagged, breath harsh and dusty. His friend was covered in electric burns with water dripping from his chin where the ice punch had melted. In short, he looked miserable.

But also victorious. He gave his trainer one last look with prideful scarlet eyes before he was recalled, thoroughly exhausted.

Surge had a look in his eyes that said he'd very much enjoy tossing Ash off of a cliff, but it broke into a grin a moment later. "It's not every day I'm defeated, runt. Hats off. Here's your gimmick."

He tossed a bright orange badge at him, which Ash barely caught. It was shaped vaguely like a sun, all bright colors. "It'll prove you actually defeated me, which is more than what most others can say. Your rhyhorn ain't shit and using my own damn lightning against me wasn't bad." A chuckle built in his chest. "Runt, if you wanna come back after getting a few more badges, I won't say no to a real battle. Raichu hasn't had a good battle in a while."

Ash grinned and nodded his head. That had been the most exhilarating battle of his entire journey so far. "You can count on it. Maybe you'll give me a challenge."

"Ha!" When the man clapped him on the shoulder, he nearly doubled over. "Now go to the Center. Probably a night's healing for it." Ash followed the gym leader over to the door, which Surge easily pried open with one hand and gestured him out.

"Thanks, Lieutenant." And he meant it.

He could just see the man flinch at the name before the door shut in his face.

xXx

Nurse Joy paused right in the middle of congratulating him. Her eyes flicked over the screen that showed his information after scanning his Trainer ID. "Excuse me, Ash, this says this was your first badge?"

He nodded.

"Well then!" She chuckled. "Those are some pretty high standards you're setting yourself up for! Very few trainers battle Surge first, and fewer even win."

Pride unfolded in his chest. This was why he was going this route. He had to set himself apart from the other trainers and make a name at the Indigo Conference if he ever wanted the Champion to notice him. "Will Rhyhorn be okay?"

"Oh, he'll be fine. I'll inject some potions around the bruises but other than that, he should be good in the morning. A little tender under the chin and on his chest, so perhaps take it a little easier on the battling, but nothing too terrible."

"Thank you." He took his leave and headed back up to his room. Gale shrieked as he was released, flapping around for a second before spotting the perches and landing proudly on one. He fixed Ash with a steely eye, waiting.

"We won. Rhyhorn creamed a pikachu but got into a bit more of a spat with an electabuzz, but pulled a victory." He held out the Thunder Badge, though quickly retracted it before Gale could peck it, chuckling. "You'll have your own badge soon enough."

He fumbled for a moment before spreading out his map over the bed. Gale chirped as he stared over it, attention half divided between that and preening his wings.

"We're going to Sabrina next," he offered. "She trains psychic types and is rumored to be one of the most powerful gym leaders in both Kanto and Johto, but she's nicer than Surge and even Giovanni. If I tell her I only have one badge, she should lower her power enough, and we'll pull a victory."

Ash stared at the wall, eyes narrowed. Gary had probably already gotten his first badge and was moving quickly toward his second. Ash didn't intend to lose.

He would win against Sabrina, no matter his skill now.

xXx

 **And it's finally up! This has been a while in the making. While I may call it a rewrite of Misfits, I am keeping very little of what you remember so it would be better to call this a new story. I am not only going a different route than the norm, but as you will soon notice and perhaps already have, Team Rocket and politics are not something to lightly touch upon in this story. It may get dark at times. I hope it won't turn people away, but I won't change it.**

 **Please enjoy and review!**


	2. Realities

Nurse Joy kept his starter for the night and a while into the morning, which he spent pacing around his room. Gale shrieked testily at him, the room walls closing in on the avian, and it was only when he began to eye Ash's bag with one beady black eye that Ash gave up and headed outside.

It was still warm, bright and shining with the sea breeze just as cloying as it had been in the beginning. Water pokemon were best found along Route 6, giving a much better challenge than if he tried to fish something out from the tourist-stained waters of the city. The sea shone brilliantly but the only fish that were daring enough to come to shore were gyarados and seadra, neither of which he was very confident in handling.

Gale took off from his shoulder, claws digging past his shirt and into his skin. That reminded him, rather vividly. His shoulder was already tender and it wouldn't be getting any healing with how often his spearow landed on it. Glancing up, he made eye contact with his bird before turning and heading into the heart of Vermillion City. An answering shriek met his ears and he knew Gale was swooping overhead.

Vermillion City, while not nearly to the point of Celadon or Cinnabar Island, was a tourist destination as much as it was a regular town. And, given that the majority of people living in Kanto interacted with pokemon on a regular basis, it was stuffed full of any store a budding trainer could need.

The Pokemon Store in the back of Centers had only basic supplies, such as potions, repels, and cheap pokemon food, all of which he had already stocked up on. Ash was looking for more specialized stores. He found three in the first ten minutes, though none were quite what he wanted. There was a breeder's storefront, a large blue-white egg in an incubator proudly displayed in the front window, a bookstore with two meowth lazily batting at toys on the door handle, and a domestic pokemon store outfitted with leashes, collars, and soft beds.

He was far from a domestic trainer. There were two main classes, though each had very different subclasses. A domestic pokemon keeper was what it seemed - people who kept pokemon for enjoyment, pets, or companionship. A license was needed, either from previous days as a pokemon trainer or a set of tests, but they were much softer than anything he had to go through. There had been a petition to give them free healing at Pokemon Centers, but it had been quickly repealed - they weren't trainers.

Then there were trainers, which is what he most definitely was. They were legally signed up for the Indigo Conference, given free healing at Pokemon Centers with the back draw of a carry limit of six pokemon as to keep them under control. Most often, trainers were either snapped up by the League or dropped off to become domestic pokemon keepers to pursue a less dangerous lifestyle.

Ash didn't think too far ahead, but he doubted that he'd ever drop his title of trainer. It meant something far more than free healing to him now.

Gale shrieked and dove as he stopped in front of a building, talons extending as he landed on Ash's shoulder. Eight pounds, as light as it seemed, still gained quite a bit of velocity from the height his friend had dived from.

But the store in front of him should help him with the problem. Pushing open the door, a warm tinkle of a bell greeted his ears. A woman behind the counter peered over at him, perking up once Gale was made visible.

"Oh, a spearow!" She bustled around the counter, grinning, before shooting a narrow look in Ash's direction. "Don't let it fly around here, though. Pokemon are only allowed out as long as they contain themselves."

Ash nodded, glancing over at Gale. The spearow seemed a bit miffed, puffing out his crest and opening his beak like he wanted to shriek another challenge. Shaking his shoulder, Ash managed to shut the bird up before he could begin.

She moved closer, eyebrows raised. "A fine specimen, though. It's close to evolving - did you know that?"

Ash grinned and reached up to stroke Gale's crest, twinging the red feathers intermixed with the regular brown. He had gained nearly four pounds, a little less than double a regular spearow's weight, and he was chock full of aggression to match. Ash didn't know how long it'd be, but he guessed soon. His team was strong and he knew they'd only continue to grow as time went on.

He blinked and focused back onto the woman as she began to speak again, flushing slightly as he cut off his train of thought. Now was not the time to go all internal and brooding.

"So! What can Falkner's Flying Fancy, Kanto division, do for you?" Although he might have been imagining it, he saw her wince at the overly flamboyant title.

Ash gestured to Gale. "As you said, he's close to evolving, and has gained a lot of weight." He ignored the disgruntled squawk. "It's been giving my shoulder a fair bit of punishment recently. Do you think you could have anything for it? I don't think I want a spearowry glove, but some sort of pad?"

The woman walked closer, narrowing her eyes. "We have a few. Come 'ere to the back - I've got a perch for your spearow while you're trying some of these on."

Gale was more than displeased to be disturbed, but a flick on the beak apparently insulted him enough for Ash to pick him off and place him on the perch. He ruffled his wings, crest flaring up. It had grown again, rather steadily.

Most flying types had wicked talons to defend themselves, and spearow were no different. The upside was that while they could almost double in size before evolving into a fearow, as Gale was quick on his path to do so, he wouldn't have to pick up an entirely new pad like with the evolution from pidgey to pidgeotto. Once Gale was a fearow, there'd be no perching on his shoulder any longer.

Eventually, he settled on one that wouldn't wipe his bank account when Gale evolved and he didn't need it anymore. It was thin, made of tanned tauros hide secured with several metal clasps. Wrapping down around his right shoulder, it was attached by two clasps around his armpit and diagonally across his chest. It even had a little lip on the side to protect his neck.

Gale flew over and perched on it, chirping. Ash could feel the weight but only the barest pressure from the talons he knew were sharp against the leather. The spearow narrowed his eyes and pecked at the pad, though he didn't try and use any moves against it. Evidently, he declared it worthy of his feet and shrieked.

The woman shot him a glare at the noise, but Ash paid the price and quickly left the shop. It was a bit bulky and upset his weight distribution, but Gale had already been doing that and he adjusted easily enough. His spearow didn't take off but instead stayed perched on his shoulder as he walked back to the Pokecenter Center, swaying slightly with every step.

By the time he got back, Nurse Joy had finished up making sure Rhyhorn was okay. She handed over the pokeball with a smile and a few words about his overall condition, but he was fine. He had taken a few more potions than she had predicted, but the ice punches had been the thing that fazed him most and beyond that, he was only lightly injured. Ash palmed the sphere and grinned a thank you back.

Route 6 was a relatively medium-sized route. It should take him a week with some chance, maybe more if he trained hard, which he would. There wasn't anything special he'd be looking out for, though electric trainers starting their journey from Vermillion would be an entertaining challenge.

Rhyhorn rumbled in slightly more than mild annoyance at Gale's spearowry pad when he was released, pawing at the ground with enough force for it to tremble beneath Ash's feet. When he was older, he could control it like an extension of his will, but he was a far reach from that.

Narrowing his eyes, Ash slapped him, lightly, on his head plate. "None of that. His talons were just hurting my shoulders." If anything, Rhyhorn's scarlet eyes narrowed further. He snorted out a puff of dusty air, glare fixed solidly on Gale, who flexed his crest and shrieked a warning.

Ash blinked, a bit dazed from the sound so close to his ears. A few people walking down the road gave him a strange look, but he shrugged it off and turned toward the edge of the city. Vermillion was large and nice, but he was more interested in traveling.

It took him nearly fifteen minutes to find the entrance to Route 6. At about five minutes, he had shaken Gale off of his shoulder and told the belligerent bird to scout ahead, which he did so with a shriek of displeasure. Even with him, it still took them another ten minutes to find a break in the buildings, facing away from the sea. Trees loomed rather suddenly from the ground, seemingly very little of a transition from the grip of the city to the maw of the forest. Ferns laid demurely on the ground, trail pounded in by thousands of feet, both human and other. Vermillion, while not the most popular city, was a fair step above Pallet or Viridian. He'd find a fair amount more trainers than normal here.

He turned to his pokemon, whistling sharply. A shadow fell across his face, widespread reddish wings blocking out the sun, and Gale dove. He pulled up only half a dozen feet to lessen the blow on Ash's shoulder, though it still stung.

Rhyhorn rumbled in confusion, ready to step out on the path. Ash shook his head. "This is going to be a harder journey than the Diglett Cave," he warned. Gale shrieked at the name, fluffy down bristling through his primaries.

"There are a lot more pokemon here, and they're more used to humans," he said. "If they think we're an easy target or have good food on us, we might get targeted by a pack. There's not a lot to worry about here, but I don't want to risk it. So, Gale, I'd like you to fly ahead, scouting out for anything. It'll be a good test for your stamina, which can help you in all of your fights. If you see even a hint of any pokemon packs, you come back to me, okay?"

Gale squawked, a gleaming shine of determination in his eyes. Ash stroked his crest, smoothing down the spiked brown feathers, and turned to Rhyhorn.

"You'll be by me, like normal. You don't really need to work on your stamina, although you'll have to pick up your normal pace to stay by my side, but instead I want you to work on smack down. That's your only move that's your type and it needs a lot of work - so I want you to try and control the dirt while we walk. That should make you much faster at harnessing it."

He got a shriek and rumble of agreement, and so plunged into his next section. "I've put a lot of thought into it, and I think I know what two moves I want you to learn next. You know Sabrina, which is our next gym. She uses psychic types, so we don't have any disadvantages to her, but we don't have any advantages either. We'll probably have enough time on the route to make the moves ready for battle use, and they'll also spice up regular training."

"Gale, you're learning pursuit. It's a dark move, so until you can get a feel for the energy you'll train it at night. It's a lot like when you use peck, so it should be simple to pick up the motion until you can master the energy." Gale bobbed his head, seemingly pleased. Ash wanted to add a defense move to his list, but that was one of the few moves his pokemon could learn that was super effective against psychic types.

"Rhyhorn, I put a lot of thought into it and I think spite is the best for you. It lowers your opponent's energy, though not by a lot, but the best thing is that it's a ghost type move, so even the energy of it should throw off a psychic's concentration." Rhyhorn pawed at the ground, making it tremble again. He was an attacking pokemon, not one for statuses. Ash glared at him and he subsided, rumbling softly.

Route 6 gaped before him. He shouldered his bag into a more comfortable position and let Gale fly off of his arm, blurring ahead with a shriek. Rhyhorn stood by his side, horn lowered and eyes bright. They set off.

xXx

Gale shrieked overhead on their third day of traveling, though it wasn't a warning call. A few moments later and he dove down to hover in front of Ash, squawking. Ash stopped, sun beating overhead. "What is it?"

The avian shot him the best glare it could while struggling to stay still in midair. Ash hurried forward and let the tired bird fall onto his shoulder. Spearow weren't meant for long flights, though they were wicked fast. His stamina was rising though, slowly but steadily.

Rhyhorn cocked his head, muscles bunching beneath his plates. His scarlet eyes brightened and he started walking again, rumbling back for Ash to follow him. He rolled his eyes but trotted after his friend, moving a hair faster than he had a moment before.

Gale shrieked when Rhyhorn made a motion to keep moving, extending a wing in a mockery of pointing left. Ash frowned, more than a bit wary of moving off of the route, but Rhyhorn turned rather abruptly and shouldered his way through the towering brush, even though it reached over his spines. Ash sighed and followed again.

It only took him a while to see what Gale had led him to. His eyes lit up at the sight of the grove so proudly present in the forest.

Berry trees were naturally found and human-altered. The first berries had been small and had only provided little nourishment to wild pokemon, at least until the ancient pokemon trainers had stepped in. Over hundreds of years of domestication, those same berries now were large and plentiful, providing desperately needed assistance to wild pokemon as well as trainers. They had originally started in Celadon City, where the grass types grew them by the bushel with all sorts of special effects. But a motion several decades ago had scattered medicinal berries by the kilos around Kanto and other regions to grow their own trees for pokemon. And it looked like he had just stumbled across one of those groves.

He walked closer, eyeing the thin trees that fought past the cover of other branches to suck in the sunlight. Their dark green leaves were randomly interspaced with bright yellow berries about four inches in diameter, each with a vague hourglass shape. Sitrus berries, if he remembered properly.

About half had clearly been eaten. He could see the violent little diamonds carvings that came from small pidgey and spearow beaks that were unable to pull the fruit from the tree, circular nibbles from weedle and caterpie, but what worried him were the cleanly plucked berries that either suggested powerful pidgeotto or humanoid hands. Packs of mankey were common here and he had no intention of getting caught in one of their territorial disputes.

Gale shrieked and nearly took off from Ash's shoulder, but he managed to catch the bird before it happened. "Come on. Let me grab them," he offered, pushing Gale back, a firmly displeased look pushing his crest upward. That had to be nearly the fourth time _today_ Gale had been unhappy with either him or Rhyhorn.

The ground type in question growled a warning to the avian, dirt quivering near his spines. The both of them had been nearly at each other's throats the entire journey, though Ash had no idea why. They had gotten together relatively well through the Diglett Cave and directly after.

"None of that," he said firmly, flicking Gale and pushing Rhyhorn's head to the side with his foot. Both of them looked away from each other, eyes bright. Ash sighed again.

But he wasn't going to let their anger take advantage of the situation. Making sure Gale was secure, he took off his bag and rooted through the outer pocket. Sitrus berries were actually incredibly firm despite what their outward appearance belied, and he didn't have to use any sort of protective containers beside the most basic.

He collected around half of the clean berries available. Most berries grew quickly, and he knew it'd be about a week before they budded over again and another two before they were roughly full grown. After a moment of thought, he pulled off all of the half-eaten ones, leaving them in a small pile on the ground. While he didn't want the possibly diseased ones near his pokemon, he wanted to tree to bud over again, and now the pokemon could get them much easier on the ground.

Rhyhorn stepped forward toward the pile, only to be stopped by Ash's foot. "I'll get you some of the nice ones, but only after I've washed them. They won't heal you if they're covered in germs," he said. His starter snorted but stepped back.

He grinned at his haul. While potions and revives were much better medicines than any berry, they were also expensive and hard to gather on the road. With berries, while it would take longer for his pokemon to fully heal, it was a much cheaper option as long as he washed them properly.

A squeak interrupted his thoughts. Down by the brush, there was a rattata, purple fur shining as it slowly emerged from the leaves, nose twitching furiously. It froze as it saw Rhyhorn, but with a stern look from Ash, the ground type rumbled and stepped away, leaving a clear path to the stack of berries. Within a heartbeat, the normal type had used quick attack to snag a berry and drag it away.

Gale ruffled his feathers and glared at the trail the small rat had left. Rhyhorn rumbled his displeasure, pieces of dirt ripping themselves from the ground and beginning to hover above his spines.

Ash sighed and went to diffuse it once again. He had to get them acting right lest he lose where the route was. It wouldn't be good at all to get lost this early.

xXx

He smiled blearily at Nurse Joy as she handed him a thin key. It had been ten rough days on Route 6 and he was feeling the effects as heavily as a tyranitar. Everything hurt.

But his team had advanced. Gale's crest had lengthened to the point that when he flashed it, the longer red feathers stood up nearly two inches above his eyes. He had gotten in three separate fights with pidgey flocks, although he had been able to beat them all back. Ash couldn't hide his excitement at Rhyhorn's growth either. He was maturing rapidly with the harsh training and battling lifestyle, growing to nearly four feet long and his spines reaching well up to Ash's waist. He knew that it would probably be less than two months before he was full grown, which meant something else - he would be able to support Ash's weight.

It was a common thing for many trainers to have a rideable pokemon. The ponyta line were particularly favored, as well as arcanine and pidgeot. But rhyhorn were just as capable, as long as the trainer employed a professional to sand down their spines in order for the saddle to fit and said trainer avoiding being stabbed with every motion. He couldn't wait for the moment, though it was still a while away.

Sighing, he trudged up the stairs toward his room. It took him nearly two minutes to get the fiddly straps of his spearowry pad unclasped, throwing it to skitter across the desk before it came to a stop. His bag hit the ground with a thud like an earthquake.

As much as the bed sung sweet songs to his ears, he knew he had to do something else before he could go to bed. It wasn't that late, though he didn't want to do any training tonight to be prepared for tomorrow, and the videophones downstairs were calling for him.

It was a short but sweet call to his mom. She squealed happily at his first badge and tried to give him as many tips as she could about Sabrina. Gale had learned pursuit and Rhyhorn could drain a fair amount of energy with spite, but she was still worried about them in the battle.

He had grinned sleepily at her with eyes half-closed already and she had laughed before sending him off to bed. It had been a wonderful, wonderful bed and an even better night of sleep.

But now he was up again, two pokeballs around his waist and as chipper as he was going to get. He hadn't appreciated the beauty of Saffron City last night but now he could, staring around from only a few feet outside the Pokemon Center. It was a mountain range made of twisting steel and iron, desperately trying to be contained within an area too small for its bulk, and so it made up for the loss by stretching upward. Floor upon floor, the tallest building - engraved with a proud _Silph Co_ \- seemed to be at the same level as the clouds. He felt small in the face of its strength, a rattata in front of a dragonite.

Maybe the morning was making him for introspective than normal. He shook his head and started off toward the gym that held his next badge.

Vermillion hadn't held a candle to the largest city in both Kanto _and_ Johto, and he found it much more difficult to get around. While Vermillion had still had the undercut of sea breezes and a brilliant sun, now the air was harshly stale and the light refracted off of silver windows. It almost felt fake, an image wavering in the air.

He definitely wasn't meant to wake up this early. Sighing, he scratched the back of his neck. It had been sore ever since he had gotten his spearowry pad, though his skin was slowly thickening and becoming more used to the tough leather.

Ash barely caught a glimpse of tan fur before the meowth that had been poking out of the alleyway disappeared back into the shadows. For such a large city, it seemed to have a surplus of hidden alleys darkened with surrounding buildings. Multiple eyes gleamed out of almost every one, wild pokemon searching for an easy target. He could have almost sworn he saw the spark of an electric type in one, though he didn't stop to check.

Eventually, he found the gym, nearly thirty minutes after he started his search. It was a shorter building than those around it, though still several steps above anything in Pallet Town, flying types in mind. The gym was made from the same gleaming steel as the other buildings, a bright contrast to two neatly kept trees by the front. An enormous pokeball was stamped over the doors, a rearing rhydon displayed in the middle. Ash smiled and touched his starter's pokeball with his fingers. One day, that'd be him.

The doors were wide, thick brown wood with a heavyset bronze handle in the center of each. He heaved on both for a while before giving up and just cracking open one, slipping inside as smoothly as he could. The doors were freakishly heavy.

It was a strange mixture between warm and cold instead, as if he wanted to put on a coat but he'd be too hot with one on. He settled for making eye contact with the man sitting behind a desk and walking forward.

"Greetings. Are you here to challenge the gym?" The man said mildly, dark brown eyes sliding smoothly up from his clipboard to Ash's face.

Ash nodded firmly. "I am."

"I see." The man's eyes suddenly flashed blue, as if someone had shone a colored flashlight on his retinas. It was startlingly creepy, and though he'd heard many stories about the psychics of Saffron City, it was very different to see them in person. "Only one badge? I'm afraid Lady Sabrina does not accept challenges from those beneath three. Please return when you have the strength to stand up to her power."

He shook his head and squared his shoulders. While he wouldn't try and contest Giovanni on that, Sabrina was supposed to be moderately nicer to trainers. "I am here to challenge the gym."

They made eye contact, the man's eyes flashing between blue and their regular dark brown. Just as his mind began to ache, the man sighed. A pokeball appeared on the counter between them, folding time and space as if it had always been there. "Then a challenge, before your own. My pokemon is equal to the weakest member of the Lady's team. If you are able to beat me, you will be able to challenge her." His tone clearly implied he had little doubt for how this was going to turn out.

"I accept." Something about this made him speak more formally than usual. "One on one?"

"Indeed." The man straightened from behind the desk, revealing loose, billowing clothes colored a pale blue. They flapped him in an invisible breeze as he stepped away from the desk, pokeball hovering an inch above his open palm. Ash couldn't tear his eyes away from the casual psychic ability.

No wonder psychic pokemon were so highly praised. If a human could do things like that, there was no telling what a suitably powerful psychic type could do.

They walked through the back of the room, exiting from the narrow welcome entrance into a wide battlefield. Two more psychics, same light blue robes billowing around them, turned before they announced their presence and bobbed their heads, abruptly leaving through a thin door in the back.

The battlefield was nothing to scoff at. It was similar to Surge's, blank dirt with no boundaries. There wasn't a referee either, but Ash got the feeling that the psychic would take offense if he tried to suggest one. Something tapped against his mind, increasing his light headache even _more_ , and he could see the faint shimmer of psychic barriers surrounding the field.

Ash took his place at one side of the battlefield, hands resting on his two pokeballs. While Gale had an actual advantageous attacking move, he'd be winning this challenge with Rhyhorn. His starter was, well, his starter - he was more powerful and they worked better together.

The psychic raised a hand, pokeball still hovering half a foot about his fingertips. In another second, he had pressed the button for the fingerprint sensor and his pokemon was released.

It was a vaguely fat looking creature, no fur but thick yellow skin. Its bottom half was a darker brown melting away the higher up it went. Above its mouth was a strange trunk that fluttered softly with every breath, twitching below its exhausted eyes.

"My drowzee is soon to join Lady Sabrina's team once they evolve," the psychic said, a mocking tone entering his smooth voice. "I wish your pokemon luck."

He released his pokemon with the tap of a button. Rhyhorn bellowed his arrival, the sound like grating stone, and Ash grinned as the psychic's eyes narrowed at the sight of the powerful creature. Rhyhorn was close to full grown and the obvious bulk beneath his plates showed it. Drowzee stared at the ground type, blinking slowly - but its body was tense and light blue energy was already flicking around its eyes.

Ash waited for a second but the man made no move to challenge him first. "Horn attack." He doubted the drowzee knew teleport, and most psychic types were known for frail bodies. If Rhyhorn could land enough hits, the battle would be over quickly.

The man's eyes flared the same shining blue, and Drowzee's did the same. It raised one arm, claws twitching. Pale blue light shone outward from its eyes, reaching over the field as tendrils.

"Look away!" Ash shouted. Hypnosis - the most famed power of the drowzee line. "Keep moving, but keep your eyes closed."

Rhyhorn roared, his movements slowed as the first tendril touched his scarlet eyes, but he squeezed them closed and charged on. Drowzee was forced to stop using hypnosis and shuffle to the side, Rhyhorn barreling past.

At Ash's command, he opened his eyes and turned around for another approach. "Smack down," Ash said. He'd need to get close to use spite, but in order for that to work, he needed the psychic distracted.

Dirt wrenched itself up from the field much faster than in Surge's gym. It trembled in midair, held aloft only through Rhyhorn's force of will. Drowzee's tired eyes narrowed, spilling blue light, and the dirt began to tremble anew, infused with psychic energy combatting with Rhyhorn's iron will.

"Spite," Ash whispered. Rhyhorn twitched his plates, slowly releasing the smack down as if Drowzee was overpowering him. The psychic's lips twitched into a smile.

At least until Rhyhorn fully gave in and roared, mouth leaking shadows. A wave of energy exploded from his throat, spreading across the room. The hairs on the Ash's neck stood straight up.

Drowzee flinched back, sagging. The dirt by its side fell uselessly to the ground. Its trunk trembled with anger as it forced itself back into a fighting stance, the bright energy from its eyes dulled with the ghost move.

Rhyhorn had no chance to move. Drowzee snapped its arm out, blue overpowering the grey and psychic energy shooting out of its eyes toward him. It glowed around his plates, a spotlight of gleaming azure. He bellowed as he began to rise a few inches into the air, thrashing his legs. Ash gritted his teeth.

Drowzee twitched its arm. Rhyhorn slammed into the psychic barriers with enough force to make Ash's teeth rattle. Drowzee's eyes burned once again, claws extended. Another confusion, this one bright and sharp with angry energy, grabbed Rhyhorn before he had even finished falling and flung him across the room once again.

Rhyhorn thudded against the ground, bellowing his pain. He forced himself to his feet, scarlet eyes making brief contact with Ash's before he charged.

Drowzee was still recovering from two confusions in a row when the furious ground type slammed into it. There were no sounds, no shrieks of pain - it merely flew backward like it had been hit by an avalanche. Psychic energy burned again but one last horn attack finished it, Drowzee's yellow fur stained a light pink where Rhyhorn's horn had stabbed it.

Rhyhorn gave Drowzee one moment's glance to confirm it had fainted before he let himself be sucked into his pokeball with no complaint. The scarlet energy flashed back up to Ash's hand and he grinned.

The psychic blinked, blue energy fading away. He recalled his pokemon, visibly collecting himself before staring up and making calm eye contact with Ash. "Very well. The Lady Sabrina will be ready when you return."

Ash barely had time to nod in thanks before there was a _hiss_ of moving air and the man simply disappeared, wind rushing in to take up the position he had once been in. He blinked at the empty side of the battlefield.

But now wasn't the time to think about that. He was going to challenge Sabrina.

xXx

Two hours later, he stood in front of the battlefield once again. Nurse Joy had been more than surprised when he told her he was challenging the gym at only one badge, though she had quickly promised to use an extra amount of potions to heal Rhyhorn in time. It had still taken him nearly fifteen minutes to find his way back to the Saffron Gym, but now he was ready.

The psychic by the door had still been rather miffed when Ash showed back up, but he had led him back to the battlefield and said the Lady Sabrina would appear soon. Five minutes had gone by but Ash knew that the gym was also a school for young psychics - there were a hundred other things Sabrina could be doing right now.

He let his eyes drift around the battlefield, taking in the thick stone tiles surrounding the dirt. They were the same high quality that Surge's gym had. Something buzzed behind his eyes and he looked up.

There was a woman on the other side of the battlefield.

It was wide enough he couldn't see everything, but the thick black hair that billowed from her skull was impossible to miss. She had pinned it down into a flowing bun or ponytail, he couldn't see, but it contrasted sharply with her pale skin. Dark eyes flashed across the room toward him, already sparking with psychic energy.

"Ash Ketchum." Her voice was quiet, but it carried absolutely. "Congratulations on beating Thawne. This will be a two vs two - if ever you feel I am too great an opponent, you are welcome to withdraw."

He blinked. "Thank you," he called, hands tense on his pokeballs. Surge had been much more boisterous than this.

"I will release first." Two pokeballs folded out of the air above her shoulders, perfectly still. Even as one snapped open, they never bobbed.

The scarlet energy formed into an even strange pokemon than the drowzee had been. It blinked across the field dopily, eyes wide and almost clouded. Pink fur moved over slim muscles as it rose to all fours, long tail sliding behind it.

Slowpoke were far from commonly used in gyms, but Sabrina's calm expression told him not to doubt it. Her two pokeballs switched position with a flash of her eyes, the slowpoke's gliding forward to recall the pokemon if necessary. Ash felt almost plebeian as he pressed the button on his own pokeball.

Gale shrieked as he was released, taking to the sky before he had gotten anywhere close to the ground. His crest spiked fully and his talons were bared. This would be no easy fight for Sabrina.

Slowpoke blinked again at him, but more recognition flashed through its eyes. Ash grimaced as the same blue covering Sabrina's retinas filled its own - telepathy was annoying as hell to fight.

Again, the psychic did not make the first move. He waited for a second to finish a strategy before calling out his command. "Razor wind, knock it off balance."

Gale shrieked again, wings blazing with flying energy as he flapped them furiously. The colored wind shot toward Slowpoke, who made no move to dodge it. After a moment that Ash thought it would connect, it twitched its tails and stood fully up on all fours, eyes flashing. The wind faltered, its flying energy pulled away by confusion. A light breeze pattered against Slowpoke's face.

Ash gritted his teeth. Confusion was the most basic psychic move, but in its weakness, it was not unrefined but untamed. With a suitably powerful pokemon, it could be used for all manner of tasks that others simply couldn't pull off. "Use your new move."

Gale almost froze in midair, his wings the only source of movement. Slowpoke stared up at him even as it did something with its tail, tracing a light design. His spearow finished gathering the proper energy and moved. There was no victorious shriek or scream of fury - he dove silently, shadows pulling themselves from his surroundings to hug his body as he fell like a star.

Slowpoke couldn't use any psychic powers to stop him - indeed, even Sabrina's mental connection dimmed as Gale grew closer. But instead, the dopey pokemon spat out a water gun that nearly slammed Gale back.

Now there was a shriek. Gale, thoroughly soaked and missing most of the shadows that signified dark energy, flapped once to get above the spray before diving again, stabbing his talons onto Slowpoke's back. The pink pokemon barely seemed to notice it, turning its head and spitting another water gun at Gale's unprotected side. The avian shrieked with outrage, shaking off the worst of the droplets before taking the skies again. He swooped over Slowpoke's head, eyes shining with fury.

Sabrina's eyes burned, Slowpoke's blazing to match. Ash barely had a second to see the rising blue energy before a confusion snapped through the air and latched firmly onto Gale's wings.

He didn't have enough time to make a sound before he was flung backward, slamming into the psychic barriers. Slowpoke pulled back, still keeping its tight hold on Ash's pokemon and letting Gale simply hang in midair, outlined by a furious blue.

"Pursuit!" Ash shouted.

Gale heard him and started to summon the shadows, thrashing violently against the psychic prison. Slowpoke groaned in discontent as the dark energy diffused its confusion, nearly plummeting Gale to the ground before he righted himself. Ash could see it in Gale's twitchy dive - he couldn't take many more hits. He wasn't built for this punishment.

Slowpoke tried another water gun but Gale was done with that. He swooped around it, spray hitting his beak, before slamming into the back of Slowpoke's head. This time, the pokemon did feel it, groaning lowly.

At Ash's command, Gale dropped the pursuit and moved immediately into fury attack, clawing at Slowpoke's back and ripping away fur in patches. He lunged in for a peck that nearly pushed Slowpoke to the ground before the pokemon could finish its attempt at confusion.

"Up!" Ash called, and Gale complied. He took off again, rising through the sky to leer down at psychic type. To Ash's surprise, he actually growled, a surprisingly thick sound that made Slowpoke's ears curl back.

But despite its multiple wounds on its back and the two doses of admittedly unmastered dark energy, Slowpoke wasn't finished. With seemingly the last of its strength, it raised its head and launched a swirling mass of cyan energy.

Gale tucked his wings in to dive, but the confusion changed course and smacked him out of the sky. Ash heard him shriek as his wing was jerked out of alignment, falling hard and fast to slam into the ground. Both pokemon collapsed, though neither were knocked out.

Ash grinned as a tiny, furious ball of reddish brown feathers picked itself up and shrieked. Gale had his wing extended, holding it awkwardly as he tried to move. It was either sprained or cracked, neither of which Ash wanted.

But his spearow hopped slowly toward the collapsed Slowpoke, even as it tried to raise its head for one last attack. He shrieked at it before slamming his beak down in a peck. It fell and didn't get back up.

Ash grinned, holding up a pokeball. "You did great, bud! I'm so proud of you." Gale glanced back at him, victory in his black eyes before he was recalled. Ash didn't think the pokemon was willing to admit it, but there was no chance he could fight again, not being able to fly. A grounded flying type was a done one.

Sabrina let the psychic energy cool around her eyes, her pokeball popping open to accept Slowpoke back inside. She nodded calmly to him, her other pokeball flying in front of her chest.

"She was my newest conquest." Her eyes met Ash's. "Count yourself lucky I so recently obtained her. Otherwise, you would have faced my next opponent first." Pokeball clicking open, she released her final pokemon.

Ash gritted his teeth the moment he saw her next pokemon. While it wasn't her famed alakazam, it was only a step below - a kadabra, floating calmly on a wind of its psychic abilities. It glanced across the field toward him, little emotion in its calm black eyes. Already, Sabrina's eyes matched the glow of her pokemon, endless possible strategies flitting between their shared minds.

He tapped the release button on his pokeball. Rhyhorn rumbled, staring across the field with fierce eyes. Sabrina looked anything but surprised. She probably already knew all of his moves.

She took the first move forcefully. Kadabra's eyes closed and the silver spoon that held the majority of its power twisted, almost splitting as it quivered with energy. It was a fair step above confusion. Psychic.

Rhyhorn charged toward the side, letting the psychic energy bounce off the barriers with a crack like thunder. Ash nearly flinched back. Kadabra peered down at the ground type before disappearing from view.

His starter stopped, confused, but faithfully turned at Ash's shout. Kadabra had appeared almost directly behind him, spoon raised. A psybeam fluctuating with brilliant flashes of color slammed into his back.

He was thrown violently forward, nearly flipping over before gravity tugged him back to the earth. There was a bellow as he landed, nearly sinking a few inches into the dirt, but he righted quickly.

Rhyhorn could take a while before he noticed pain. Ash was gunning for him fighting past any moves they used - psychic moves weren't known for having tons of kickback. "Spite!" He had to hurt the psychic, and there was no point in smack down. Kadabra was much stronger than the drowzee and there wouldn't be a battle of wills this time - it could direct the dirt however it wished with little effort.

Eyes losing their shine, Rhyhorn reared. He spat a shockwave of dripping shadows, snapping around the battlefield and only losing its strength when it rebounded against the barriers. Kadabra threw up a psychic shield, curving it around its body. The ghostly energy shattered it, but only a touch actually hit the psychic type.

But Ash wasn't done yet. "Horn attack."

Rhyhorn roared a challenge and charged again, jumping to the side in time to avoid another psybeam. Kadabra's eyes flashed with the first sign of emotion and even as it used teleport, Rhyhorn lunged forward and jabbed his horn into the psychic's leg.

Kadabra appeared on Sabrina's side, floating in midair instead of standing. It supported its leg with a swirling wind of psychic energy, eyes narrowed with a faint anger. Sabrina had a little smile on her face. "Horn attack," Ash said again, but something in his voice fell flat.

Rhyhorn made it another half dozen feet before Kadabra raised its spoon, the silver folding in on itself like it was made of water. A brilliant blue outline surrounded each of Rhyhorn's plates, glowing bright enough to almost block out his natural coloring.

"Spite!" Ash shouted, but he knew it was hopeless. With a twitch from Kadabra's bushy tail, Rhyhorn was flung back into the psychic barriers hard enough for his spines to crack.

Ash numbly recalled his friend.

Sabrina was missing from her side of the battlefield, her kadabra already recalled. He jerked as she appeared next to him, although several feet away. Her grey eyes were stormy.

"You do not have the ability to defeat me. Challenge others and return."

Something flared in the pit of his stomach as he clutched as his starter's pokeball. "I'll be back here."

She stared at him with a touch of amusement in her eyes. The famed Lady Sabrina didn't warrant him another response and merely teleported out of existence, so smooth that not even air rushed back in to fill in her spot. It was several leaps ahead of the psychic - Thawne, she had called him.

He clipped Rhyhorn's pokeball back to his belt and left the gym.

xXx

Ash couldn't focus. While he hadn't started with a dratini like the Champion Lance or was sponsored and trained by Professor Oak, he also hadn't just been a fodder trainer catching bug types and battling just for money. Trainers that had traveled before him had been stomped beneath Rhyhorn's bulk or Gale's aggression.

He had even defeated _Gary_.

Sabrina was no pushover, he knew that. But Surge had been beaten by Rhyhorn. While Gale had defeated the slowpoke, Sabrina had said it was her newest pokemon and Thawne had said it was her weakest. Her kadabra was a much higher step above it.

He glared at the thick foliage of Route 8. What he had said to Sabrina hadn't been a lie - he was staying in Saffron City until he grew strong enough to defeat her. Other trainers would take their losses diplomatically and head for a lesser gym, maybe trying to rematch her later.

Well, he had never been complimented on his calm coolheadedness.

There was a _reason_ he was off the beaten path. A year before the Conference wasn't enough to just follow others and get to their same level of strength. Brock and Misty had known monsters on their team and he wanted to face them, just like he wanted to defeat the monsters on the other gym leaders while Gary was still off fighting Brock's geodude.

This was nothing he would compromise on. He hadn't stopped by the Pokemon Center - his pokemon, while knocked out, hadn't been injured that hard and he had enough revives to tide him over instead of waiting forever until Nurse Joy deemed them perfect enough to battle.

Route 8 was wild and aggressive. It connected to Lavender Town, which was one of the most avoided towns in Kanto because of its overwhelming presence of ghost types. Little effort went into maintaining the route and it was about as close to a rainforest as Kanto could ever get, though it'd never match even the weakest path in Hoenn. Several rare pokemon lived on it, including growlithe, ekans, vulpix, and sandshrew.

All were strong enough to be a real challenge for his pokemon. There would probably be few trainers on the thick path and he'd have to fight every wild pokemon he saw.

There was a sort of 'recharge' time between gym battles. For the lesser gyms, it was a day at the most, while Brock and Erika held themselves to three day intervals. Sabrina never accepted anyone back below a week.

So he had a week until he fought again. Grimacing, he released his pokemon.

Rhyhorn was conscious, and Gale had never been knocked out. Both stared up at him as he dug roughly through his bag, pulling out several potions to heal the worst of their injuries. It was a clear sign of how hard they'd been beaten when Gale didn't protest as Ash pushed his feathers around to get to his bruised skin underneath.

"We're going to keep training," he promised. Both of them looked at him. "Sabrina won't know what hit her. We're not going to give up."

Rhyhorn pushed himself up to his feet, the pain from the battle that he hadn't felt earlier hitting him now. But he shouldered past it and rumbled agreement. Gale flexed his crest, shrieking.

xXx

Their peace fell apart quickly.

Rhyhorn _roared_ , turning away from his savaged tree with fury in his scarlet eyes. Gale shrieked back, no apology for his misfired razor wind, spreading his wings and flaring his crest. The ground type bellowed again, all of the pent-up anger and frustration from losing at Sabrina erupting with a _bang_.

Ash couldn't hide his yelp as his starter charged. Gale threw himself off of his branch just as Rhyhorn slammed into the tree with enough force to make the ground tremble, brushing off bark chunks on his horn. It creaked meekly, wood cracking, before the relatively old sapling slammed into the ground with a thunderous crash.

Gale shrieked again, mocking the ground type as he flapped easily in midair. He kept his crest extended, primaries shining in the light. Ash winced as he saw the tell-tale effects of razor wind lift off of his wings and zip toward Rhyhorn, shoving him backward with all the strength of their recent training.

"Stop it, both of you!" He shouted, raising his hands. He didn't have enough of a death wish to run between them, but his volume was enough. Rhyhorn immediately pulled back, though his eyes still burned. Gale waited another second, wings still flickering with blue energy, but Ash shouted, "Stop!" again and he subsided.

Rhyhorn rumbled from the force of the wind, pushed back nearly a foot. The anger in his eyes redoubled.

Ash bolted forward and slammed a hand on Rhyhorn's head plate. The ground type only felt it as a tap while Ash's palm felt rather like he had tried to use brick break. "No. Stop that _now_."

With a rumble and a shriek, both of them stopped. Gale swooped around until he found a new branch to perch on, folding his wings and digging his talons into the wood. Rhyhorn snorted out a puff of dusty air, rattling his plates.

"Gale, go flying. I'm going to talk to you later," he commanded. Maybe something in his voice betrayed his emotions, and Gale took off from his branch without any argument. His wings flashed and then he was gone, flying over the forest.

"Rhyhorn." His ground type didn't meet his eyes, looking down as the target of his anger flew away. He pawed at the ground, shifting the dirt around to avoid looking at his trainer. Ash kept the uncomfortable silence until he finally looked up.

"You aren't invincible, Rhyhorn." Ash said quietly. "Neither am I, neither is Gale. I know you've won all of your battles so far, and you're upset that you lost for your first time against Sabrina. I am too. But that anger has _no_ place on this team. You're my starter, my second in command. If you can't control yourself, I'm putting you in your pokeball until you can." The warning almost stuck in his throat. He didn't want that to happen, not now, not ever. "I can wait, but I don't want to, bud. You're my friend." Rhyhorn looked away at that, scarlet eyes half closed. "I want us to work this out, but that's got to start with you."

His friend rumbled quietly, still looking away. Ash could see the moment he visibly sagged, giving in. Rhyhorn stared back at him and made a disturbingly chirp-like sound, an apology.

He fell to his knees and hugged him.

At Ash's piercing whistle, Gale swooped down from above the trees, landing on his branch. A few of his primaries were out of alignment, and Ash got the sneaking suspicion he had found a pidgey to have a fight with.

"You two have been at each other's throats for the past two weeks," he accused. Gale ruffled his feathers and looked away, but he didn't deny it. Rhyhorn seemed a little more responsive, looking away again. He seemed to realize what he had been doing was wrong.

"Gale, I know you love to fight. But you don't fight this team unless I want you to, you understand? We are part of your flock." Gale aimed one beady eye at him, and Ash nearly winced. He had heard that comparing team members to herds or flocks could help group-oriented pokemon, but apparently it was a little more difficult to see Rhyhorn as a spearow than as part of a growlithe pack.

"I think I understand, though. Gale, in every fight with Rhyhorn, you've been beaten, haven't you?" The bird shrieked at the reminder but turned fully away, breast puffing out as a declaration of pride. "I don't mean it like that. Both of those times, you were wild and untrained. But you don't feel strong enough, I'm guessing."

He steepled his fingers, thinking. After a moment, something came to him. He searched around the clearing for a while until he found the tree Rhyhorn had knocked down. With the fight, there hadn't been enough time for him to really recognize it, but now pride unfolded in his chest. Rhyhorn was well on his way to becoming a fully grown, fully powerful rhyhorn worth remembering.

Ash had to work for a bit, but he eventually managed to pull off the branch Gale had used as a perch. He walked back into the clearing, whistling for Rhyhorn to follow him. The ground type did so, rumbling with confusion.

Eventually, he was in position. Ash jogged over to the other side of the clearing, kicking rocks and sticks out of his way until it was a relatively clean stretch from Rhyhorn to the tree Gale was perched in. Ash used his stick to carve a line in front of its trunk, nearly fifteen feet away from Rhyhorn.

"When the kadabra used psybeam on you, it stopped your horn attack. Next time, that won't happen," he said determinedly.

Gale squawked as he turned to him, obviously confusing and partially expecting a lecture. "Up." The spearow took off, flapping his wings and ending up about ten feet over the line Ash had drawn.

"Rhyhorn, I want you to run to this line." His starter rumbled and made a move to start, but Ash held up his hand. "And while you'll be trying to do that, Gale will be using razor wind on you."

Gale shrieked, a devilish tone in the sound. Rhyhorn's eyes flashed with betrayal and Ash had to bite back a laugh. "Imagine this line is the kadabra, bud. It's weak, one more horn attack should knock it out. But while you're charging, it uses psybeam, over and over. We need to get you to charge without being slowed down. And Gale," he shouted, the bird angling to look at him. "Rhyhorn's tough. I'm sure you know that. Where you are right now, if I put you two in a fight, you'd lose. So make razor wind so strong you won't."

Both of his pokemon nodded. Ash trotted out of the direct path of fire, raising his stick in the air. Rhyhorn dug his silver claws into the earth, rumbling, eyes narrowed. Ash snapped the stick down.

Gale shrieked, pounding his wings against the air. The blue energy seemed particularly spiteful as it roared forward, gleaming. Rhyhorn charged only two feet before the wind hit him and threw him back. He bellowed in rage and dug his claws in, lowering himself down to present a smaller target. The wind slammed into him almost unending, moving him steadily back. His claws left inch wide furrows in the dirt as he was dragged back to behind where he had charged from, spines hitting the trunk of a tree.

Rhyhorn refused to give up. He lowered himself further, bracing his back claws against the tree he had been forced again, and reached forward with one paw. It grappled at the ground before scoring a hit, allowing Rhyhorn to pull himself forward.

Ash grinned and settled back, idly using the stick to scratch his back. While they weren't new moves, he had realized in the fight against Sabrina that he wouldn't win by just tossing new, unperfected moves at her. Both Gale and Rhyhorn could summon energy that could help throw off psychic moves and he could train summoning more energy while they were traveling, searching for more trainers or pokemon. This would get them strong in their physical sense, which was the enemy of psychic types.

And besides, it was a healthy way to get out their aggression. While both had liked shredding tree trunks with their respective attacks, nothing trained pokemon better than versing themselves.

Ash kept them at it for six straight hours.

Gale had poured all of his heart and soul into the first ten minutes of the attack, so much so that Rhyhorn was only able to make three feet of headway. But after that, his energy faded, trickling down to a light breeze at forty-five minutes. Now, that wasn't to say Rhyhorn was any better, but the ground type was able to finally make it to the line at exactly forty-seven minutes into the exercise.

Both of them instantly collapsed afterward. Ash, who had already stood in preparation, was able to dart forward and catch the exhausted spearow before he slammed into the ground.

Thanking Route 6 profusely, Ash had stuffed both pokemon full of as many sitrus berries as they could handle and given them a break. Rhyhorn was fine - he just flopped on his stomach and slept the fifteen minutes away. Gale, however, was much more exhausted. His species wasn't meant for long flights, even though he had been staying in roughly the same place. He had laid back as Ash massaged the joints on his wings, doing his best to get rid of the hard spots as best he could.

Though both had glared at him hard enough he was sure it was a move, they listened to his command. Ash redrew the line from where Rhyhorn had used horn attack and sat back, dropping his stick again.

Neither of them were as strong as they had been at the beginning but, surprisingly, that made it more equal. Rhyhorn could make it almost five feet in a straight charge before Gale's competitive spirit triggered a fiercer blow of wind that stopped his movement in its tracks. Rhyhorn scored two more hits on the line while Gale had managed such a wicked razor wind that it flung Rhyhorn on his side, where he wriggled furiously until Ash took pity and pushed him over.

He healed them up for the last time before letting them fall to sleep. Gale had his head tucked under one wing, back pressed against the tree trunk. Rhyhorn had drowsily eaten a chunk of dirt before passing out.

Ash couldn't wait until they realized they'd be doing that tomorrow as well.

xXx

Ash gripped his hat to keep it from blowing off, grinning. They were only five minutes into the first bit of their training run but already he could tell things were different; for one, Rhyhorn hadn't been blown back by the wind yet it was strong that Ash had had to take cover. Both were giving it their all.

He watched for a while before he became acutely aware of something. It niggled at the back of his head, though he couldn't place. It was finally when Gale shrieked in victory at pushing Rhyhorn back several feet and calmed his winds that he finally grabbed onto it.

It had been hidden by Gale's razor wind, but now it was quietly clear - a high-pitched howl from some hunting party. He listened in tense silence as it echoed off into the distance, still only loud enough he had to concentrate to hear it. Another answered it, closer. Then another.

A hunting party was closing in.

He whistled sharply and Gale abruptly stopped his attack, flapping over. Rhyhorn didn't quite get the memo and accidentally charged forward, still used to fighting against Gale's wind. He slammed face first into a thick tree trunk with enough force to make it crack, although he brushed it off and trotted over to Ash.

But it was clear to see that once they had stopped their training they could hear what it was. Being a prey pokemon, Gale narrowed it down first, black eyes wide and crest spiking up. Rhyhorn got it the next second as another unearthly cry bounced around the clearing, rumbling dangerously.

"They're probably circling us," Ash hissed, even as he hurriedly threw everything into his bag. It took him a couple of tries but he managed to get the loops over a thick branch and slide it up into the tree. If the pokemon attacked, he wouldn't be pinned down by its ridiculous weight.

Both of his pokemon tensed, ready for battle. Ash thought back to everything he remembered about Route 8. There was no time to get out his pokedex. The only pack pokemon were growlithe and vulpix. He flinched as another howl echoed through the forest. It - or they - was getting closer. There was also the very real chance that it was just one large pokemon announcing to others that Ash and his team were its prey and it didn't want anything else getting in its way. In that case, he could only think of arbok or kadabra, but neither of them made the howls he was thinking of.

The three of them stood there, although Gale flapped above, listening as the hunting cries grew closer and closer. He was sure it was a pack now, the decibels changing with every howl, but he still couldn't pin it down.

His question was answered as the first pokemon burst through the foliage.

It was around two feet tall, covered in reddish-brown fur. Grey-black eyes stared up at him, narrowed, while three long tails whipped behind its body.

Vulpix. While it wouldn't have been any better if they were growlithe, he cursed anyway - fire types packed serious punches and that was without a whole pack behind them. But vulpix also were known to feign being injured if their opponent was too strong, so maybe if he knocked out one or two of them, they'd leave. That was his chance.

The vulpix across the clearing glared at him, fire bright behind its eyes. Ash flinched as another vulpine burst through the brush only a few feet away from the first, quickly followed by another. Before Ash could blink, there was five vulpix glaring across the field toward him, the temperature rising quickly with each of their exhaled breaths.

Most of them had two to three tails, which were perfectly respectable and full grown. But he couldn't hide his shock at one vulpix, nearly a head above the others, with six perfectly formed tails behind it, wagging gently. A vulpix ready to evolve, at their prime. It must be the leader.

Another unearthly howl split the forest. Rhyhorn rumbled darkly as one final vulpix burst into the forest.

It was large, though smaller than the six-tailed vulpine. Its fur was groomed, though matter with mud and burrs, and its eyes showed nothing but determination. Four tails, long and slightly curled at the end, whipped behind it. The six-tailed vulpix lowered its tails in submission as it marched to the front of the pack.

This was the leader. He had to take it out if he was ever going to get the pack to submit. "Rhyhorn, Gale, get ready to attack. Scout them out first."

Gale shrieked and took higher to the skies to avoid fireballs while Rhyhorn lowered his head and snorted. Two vulpix, the ones on the very end, immediately tracked the spearow's flight to the sky. Ash grimaced. He bet they had ember, which could reach high into the sky. "Gale! Dodge anything they throw at you. It'll be fast fireballs without much range, so swerve up instead of down-"

He paused in his directions as the leader stared at their packmates, obviously communicating some instructions with their fledgling psychic abilities. With a snarl, it turned back to face him.

Ash gaped as the lead vulpix burst into _flames_. Its reddish fur flickered with fire, though it never burned, and he cursed when he recognized it. Flash fire, vulpix's ability. While it could absorb any fire attacks that hit it, it could also seriously hurt Gale if he dove and made contact. Thankfully, if he managed to distract the vulpix enough to the point it forgot about keeping it activated, it would be a clear path to damage it.

"Rhyhorn! Horn attack, mow them down!" He shouted. The vulpix yipped and moved into action the second his ground type began to move.

The two flanking vulpix immediately split, angling themselves to have a straight line to Gale. He shrieked down at them, wings burning with flying energy. One raised its two tails above its head, the white tips glowing fiercely. Both simultaneously burst into flames as they activated their ability and launched two fireballs from the tips of its tails.

Gale rose higher to avoid them both, still cleanly in range for razor wind. He launched it furiously, slamming the two vulpix on their side as they yipped in pain.

Rhyhorn bellowed as he charged, deadly horn poised. The lead vulpix barked commands to each of their remaining three vulpix before facing the ground type themselves. It was almost smirking.

With a howl, it raised its four tails and released a blinding flash of light. Ash blinked spots away from his eyes, gasping, only to see Rhyhorn stumble through the light and slam point-blank into a trunk, cracking the wood. The lead vulpix had darted away the moment after its light and watched from a safe distance as Rhyhorn rammed himself into the tree. The other three vulpix circled him, each activating their ability, watching their leader for the sign to attack. Vulpix gave it by shaking itself, spreading its four tails and releasing balls of fire from each tip. Instantly, the others did the same.

Rhyhorn's typing pulled through. Embers were deadly enough by fire types but he took forever to feel pain and the fire didn't do much other than create soot. He turned around, bellowing.

Vulpix blurred forward in what he recognized as quick attack, but it didn't get any closer to Rhyhorn than three feet. It slammed its paws into the ground to stop before _roaring_.

The sound was hideously loud and shrieking, and Ash clutched at his ears in agony. Rhyhorn fared no better, bellowing and trembling, and even Gale couldn't help the flinch that nearly sent him plummeting him to the ground. By the time Ash could concentrate, four more embers had exploded against Rhyhorn's side.

Distraction. That was what it was doing. Fire types weren't known for being very hardy, especially not vulpix nor growlithe, and they couldn't handle too many hits. So it distracted his pokemon in order to land hits.

He shot a glance toward Gale. The avian had continued pelting the vulpine with razor winds, ducking and swerving around the various embers shot at him. Ash winced but knew what he had to do. "Gale, fury attack! You have to knock one out!"

Gale shrieked an affirmative and tucked his wings in, primaries flashing as he dove. He singled out the vulpix with three tails, recognizing it as stronger, and landed a vicious slice across its ears.

It howled, jerking back, and he fell upon it, ignoring the fires crisping his wings. The moment it held up its tails to launch an attack, he took to the skies only to flip around, gathering shadows, and slam into its head with pursuit. It fell down and did not get up.

Rhyhorn stood his ground this time as Vulpix darted around him, four tails swinging and billowing more heat around the clearing. Ash vigorously cursed his jacket but knew he had no time to get it off. "Rhyhorn, smack down! Gale, growl at the one with six tails! Distract it!"

Dirt rose into the air as Gale threw himself off of the fallen vulpix, wings flapping furiously as he trailed a hint of smoke. But unlike with the ponyta, he powered through the pain enough to release a growl filled with rage at the largest vulpix. It jerked, eyes wide even as it faced him with its six tails.

Rhyhorn had picked up nearly enough dirt to fill a firepit, his control drastically improved. All of the vulpix narrowed their eyes, bodies tensed to run if they were the target.

Ash wasn't giving them that option. "Wide shot! Throw it everywhere!" Rhyhorn roared and slammed his front paws down. Like a shockwave, the dirt flew all around the clearing, gleaming with power.

Gale had seen it coming and had flown above the radius, twisting into an elaborate climb. The second it was complete, he tucked his wings in and fell. Ash grinned as he plummeted at the largest vulpix, its natural defense deactivated by the smack down. With a shriek, he tore into its back, ripping away patches of fur even as it howled and fought to get him off. It took him nearly four pecks on top of a long fury attack to knock it out. Two embers slammed into his side, singing his feathers further, and Ash knew it wouldn't be long until he wasn't able to fly.

A vulpine blurred forward with quick attack. It lunged for Gale but the avian managed to take off and get away. The vulpine ignored him after that and instead grabbed onto the fallen six-tailed vulpix's scruff, dragging it away into the forest. Retreating. Ash glanced over and saw the first vulpix Gale had knocked out missing as well, its partner gone.

The lead vulpix didn't have the same smug look on its face, instead one of blazing determination. Only one other vulpix circled with it, but with a furious bark, the fire type glanced at its leader before blurring away into the forest. Vulpix was going to cover their escape.

Ash nearly gave a command to Rhyhorn before he paused. Vulpix's eyes burned with anger and pride, and it had shown strategies none of his other pokemon used. It had put up a fight against Rhyhorn despite its type disadvantage and had made even a more powerful vulpix bow to it. There were plenty of other pokemon in its pack, probably more he hadn't even seen, enough for another to take over.

He was capturing this pokemon.

"Rhyhorn, fury attack and stomp if you can. Gale, I want you overhead and ready for razor wind if needed."

Vulpix's ears perked up as Ash finally took it seriously, even despite the fight going on earlier. With its distraction techniques, it could run away at any moment. He didn't want that to happen.

Rhyhorn bellowed and charged, but Vulpix had seen easily through his plan. It raised its tails again, fire building on the tips until it released in another blinding wave of light. Rhyhorn bellowed through the pain in his eyes and lunged in all directions with his horn and bulk, but he wasn't the target. Two crackling embers exploded against Gale's side and he fell.

Ash recalled him immediately. Gale shrieked before he disappeared, but Ash knew he was glad. While he had snuffed out the flames by recalling him, the endless waves of fire had hurt him enough flying would be an impossibility. If Rhyhorn failed, he was a last resort to try and capture Vulpix.

Rhyhorn refocused as Vulpix stared in confusion at the sky, searching for its missing prey. He wisely kept his mouth shut from another bellow and charged as silently as he could, using all of the strength and speed he had learned from their training.

Vulpix saw him coming and jumped onto his back.

The ground type bellowed as the flash fire crackled against his plates, twisting wildly. Vulpix wormed its way between his spines, securing its position before it pointed its tails down and released a shockwave of heat.

Heat wave. Rhyhorn felt it over his entire body, shuddering even as anger let him move. He bucked, rattling his plates together. Vulpix was light enough it escaped too much punishment but Rhyhorn was going to get the fire type off of his back one way or another.

With a bellow, he turned and charged toward the thickest tree lining the clearing, lowering his head. He rammed into it hard enough to send it toppling to the ground, the recoil trembling through his body. Vulpix was thrown overhead until it slammed into the ground, gasping and covering in bruises.

It twitched its tails, throwing another weak wave of embers, but they fizzled out quickly. Rhyhorn shook himself from the blow and walked closer, twitching his charred plates. Ash could see the wince in his face and the flinch in his steps, but he managed to journey to the fallen pokemon and stare down at it.

Vulpix released one last burst of heat from its mouth, but Rhyhorn took the hit and didn't flinch. It stared up at him, then at the slowly approaching Ash. Vulpix twitched one last time before settling down, tails flat.

Ash grinned and held up a pokeball, primed and ready. The fire type gave one last glance to Rhyhorn and the pokeball that contained Gale before closing its grey eyes. When the pokeball bounced off of its chest, it twitched for less than a minute before dinging. Successful.

"Yes!" Ash shouted, pumping his fist in the air. He lunged down to pick up the pokeball, holding it above his head and doing a strange sort of dance around the clearing. It was only after he noticed the still burning grass that he dumped some dirt over the embers, but that didn't stop his enthusiasm for a second. "I caught a vulpix!"

He twirled to grin at Rhyhorn, only to notice his starter splayed flat out on the ground, panting wildly and twitching in pain. Now that he wasn't in motion, it was clear to see that nearly two dozen embers had hit him from the near four vulpix he had been fighting.

Ash sobered and recalled him. Saffron City was only an hour or two away - he hadn't wanted to be far away in case of serious injuries - and it would be worth it to get all of his pokemon healed up in one go before he tried to meet Vulpix. It took him a few tries to successfully snag his bag from the tree and grab his stick, which was actually a rather fantastic walking stick once he started using it, but then he was ready to go.

xXx

Ash waited irritably in front of the videophone. It had been nearly three minutes since he had clicked call, and it was around eleven in the morning, a perfectly respectable time for Professor Oak or one of his aides to be in the lab. It was even a Thursday - the lab should be bustling with motion by now!

Nurse Joy had taken his three pokeballs and predicted somewhere around six hours to get them healed up enough, though they'd all be sore for a couple of days, mostly Rhyhorn. He had powered through with sheer determination but that had only exhausted him more. Ash might have to add a few days more until he challenged Sabrina again to make sure all of his fighters were ready.

Finally, at nearly five minutes, the videophone flickered from the black screen into a bright white, fading a few seconds later into a closeup of Professor Oak, white shock of hair uncombed and eyes bright. "Well, hello, Ash! How on earth did you get to Saffron City so quickly?"

He distantly remembered he hadn't talked to the man since he started his journey. "I cut through the Diglett Cave and challenged Surge. I have a Thunder Badge already," he said, pride obvious.

"Well done!" Professor Oak clapped, smile bright. "Is there any reason you're calling me? Wait - hold on." His face disappeared out of sight as he scrolled through something on another screen. "A spearow! Good choice. Oh - and I see you just captured a vulpix today! Quite impressive."

"Thank you." He looked away for a second - now for the topic he had contacted him to ask. It was time to swallow his pride, even a little. "I challenged Sabrina, and she defeated me. Do you, well, have any tips? I'm going to try again soon."

"Sabrina, eh?" The professor furrowed his bushy eyebrows. "She's one of the most tricky opponents you'll face, although judging by your tone there's no chance in convincing you into choosing a different gym first." He raised his hands in surrender as Ash narrowed his eyes. "A jest, that's all!"

"A good method would be to be on the offensive. Psychic types aren't known for being fast or sturdy, and several good hits from a rhyhorn, even a young one, should knock them flat. Teleport should be your real problem, as it's devilishly difficult to defend against. My best bet would be some sort of long range attack - maybe smack down? If your rhyhorn has a strong enough will, he might be able to resist a psychic's power enough to control it to hit them. For your spearow, hm, I can only suggest pursuit to throw off psychic moves."

Ash grinned. "They already know smack down and pursuit, Professor. Looks like I'm ahead."

"In more ways than one, I might add," he muttered. "Challenging Surge and then Sabrina first! I foresee a strong future if you keep up that will, Ash."

He blushed and moved on quickly. "Do you have any other tips for spearow or vulpix? Mainly the vulpix, though. I just captured it today and it put up a serious fight - it was definitely the leader of the pack."

Ash became a little concern at the can of worms he had just opened when the professor grinned wildly. "Any other tips, you say? Well, where to begin…"

xXx

"Here's our new teammate," Ash offered to his pokemon. Gale stared in confusion, although a quick explanation quickly fixed things. Now both of his friends were glaring at the pokeball in his hand.

"None of that." He scowled. "It's a member of our team now, and I don't want to hear anyone saying otherwise. Get ready." With a tap of a button, he released the vulpix.

It shook violently as it emerged, tensing up, only to freeze in shock as it felt no pain from any of the numerous injuries it remembered. It extended each of its tails, flaring with life, although it didn't activate its ability. After a moment, it focused in on Ash and crouched, tails whipping.

"Rhyhorn, stop that," he warned. The ground type cut his growl, although his horn was still lowered. He turned back to face the vulpix, who stared up at him with bright grey-black eyes. Its ears twitched violently even as it focused on him.

"I captured you. That makes me your trainer, okay? This is Rhyhorn-" he tapped his starter's horn "and that's Gale." The spearow shrieked from his perch on Ash's shoulder pad, ruffling his wings. "I don't want to hurt you, and neither do your new packmates." He pointed to his pokemon and watched as the vulpix traced his movements carefully.

It hadn't attacked yet, so he kept on. "Being a trainer's pokemon means you get food, healing, and a safe life. I'll train you to grow stronger."

Ash grinned as he saw its eyes light up. He had seen it admire Rhyhorn's strength and knew he had landed on its true wish. "I can get you six tails and then a fire stone. That is, if you think you're strong enough to handle it."

He earned a furious bark in response, four tails whipping around and coming up to rest above its head. After another moment, it nodded its head and yipped, the sound a fair bit more friendly than its bark.

"I'm going to see how strong you are," he said, holding up his pokedex. Vulpix stayed still as he aimed the scanner at it, clicking the button.

 _Vulpix, the fox pokemon. At birth, it only has one snow-white tail. As it grows, the tail splits until it has six, which is when it is ready to evolve. It controls balls of fire and has an internal flame that can never be put out - if it grows too warm, it releases excess heat through its mouth._

 _This vulpix knows the moves ember, quick attack, roar, will-o-wisp, and heat wave. Its ability is flash fire, which lets it absorbs fire attacks._

He grinned at the moves. It was built not just for sheer brute force but technique and strategy, something he was starting to realize he lacked. Vulpix would be a perfect addition to his team. He quickly scanned for a gender - female. "Would you like a nickname?"

There was little hesitation before she yipped again. He hadn't had many ideas for fire types, but a few stuck out to him - Inferno, Blaze, Fyr. She turned down every one and he started to realize that she didn't want a name that just screamed power and might - she wanted one about fire, about her element that lived in her chest like an extra heart. He stumbled across one quite by accident. "Scorch?"

She yipped, whipping her tails. He grinned and kneeled down, allowing her to lower her head to make eye contact. "Welcome to the team," he offered, reaching a hand out. She stared at it a bit hesitantly before leaning forward and sniffing his fingers. After another moment, she let him reach out and stroke behind her ears. She yipped, pleased.

As he looked at her, he could see why vulpix were so highly praised as pets. Even with her fur matted, paws streaked with mud, and her sleek tails knotted, her reddish brown fur gleamed in the sunlight. He had asked specifically for Nurse Joy not to clean her off, following Professor Oak's instructions.

The man had told him of fire types. While Ash hadn't ever expected to receive one from the ground gym in Viridian, he had known about their pride. Vulpix were on the high end of the list, and their vainess only boosted their proud nature. Pack grooming sessions could last hours in the wild.

He finished rubbing her ear, eliciting a pleased croon, before he turned back to his bag. Professor Oak had had nothing but praises for the product, but the sellers had obviously heard of the pride of vulpix and had charged accordingly. It had taken nearly two days worth of winnings, which meant he'd have to cut back on potions when he set out again.

But the brush was a work of art. He couldn't deny that. Layered with fire retardant material in case of an accidental flash fire activation, soft on the outer layer while several rows of thicker bristles were tucked inside, waterproof and made for weeks on end in the wilderness. Scorch's grey eyes flashed as she looked at it, ears twitching.

It took nearly five minutes, but Ash was able to move slowly enough for Scorch to trust him until she was in his lap, still crouching. Her legs were tight and one ear was pointed furiously toward the forest, tails curled. All of that changed when he began to brush her. He moved slowly, careful to avoid startling her by jerking on a knot, starting at the back of her neck over her back.

She actually purred as he brushed away the years of forest time, untangling knots and sleeking over the red. After a while where she hadn't shown any signs of activating flash fire, he used his hands to rub any mud and remove burs buried deep beneath her fur.

Rhyhorn rumbled, stepping forward to sniff the brush, but Ash shook his head and he subsided. He didn't want them to train and disturb their newest member, but he also didn't want the time to go to waste. "You guys go to light training, okay? Gale, speed training overhead. Rhyhorn, I need some more control over smack down." They both voiced their agreements before going out. Gale shrieked before taking off, his reddish form a mere blur over their heads as he streaked across the sky. Rhyhorn trudged off to a corner of their clearing and started pulling up clumps of earth, scarlet eyes narrowed.

Scorch purred again as Ash shifted to her chest, using only the barest pressure on the brush to avoid hurting her. He frowned as his palm met a hollow over her back legs, where her stomach was. Pausing in his care for a moment, he thumbed over the gap where strong muscle should have been. She was thin, though not starved.

It took him half an hour to finish grooming her completely. Her tails had taken most of that time, as they were the most sensitive part on her body and he didn't want to risk hurting her at the beginning of their tentative friendship. Although he hadn't focused too much on them, he could feel the wide pores at the tips that released her fire attacks. But in the end, he could see it was worth it. She looked a hundred times better than the fire type he had captured in the forest, looking like the pride of any team. Her thinness was something he would be quick to solve.

Scorch yipped at him when he finally finished. Her eyes opened and she stared at his face before bounding out of his lap in one smooth leap. With an expression akin to awe, she examined every inch of her clean body.

Ash smiled as she yipped happily and shook herself. A spray spark flicked out from one of her tails and she didn't even look at it before it snuffed itself out in midair. A thought flashed back through his mind.

"Let's show how strong you are," he said and was rewarded with her ears shooting forward and a bark.

He had already seen her quick attack and howl, which were pretty self-explanatory. Her howl was particularly fierce and there had been that strange light she had called out of her tails, though he doubted it was flash. More likely, just a controlled burst of fire. But heat wave, ember, and will-o-wisp were what interested him.

It took him a couple of minutes before he found a boulder of suitable size near their clearing. He had no wish to start a forest fire by testing them out on a tree, at least until he had a water type.

She activated flash fire with a flare of heat. Her ember was just as strong as before, and her heat wave was able to be aimed like a shockwave if she spread her tails out. But the most curious thing was her will-o-wisp.

Scorch seemed to shiver her tails, extending one above the rest. A ball of dull blue flames appeared, fire safely contained by her will. He frowned at it. While he knew it was fire, he couldn't feel any heat from the flames. It was technically classified as a cool flame, but how could that work? He wondered whether it would burn him or whether it would freeze, the blue shining like a beacon and he was lost in the forest, needing its light-

Scorch yipped, worried, and snuffed the flame out. He blinked, staring around to realize that he had walked nearly five feet forward and had been reaching out to touch the fireball that definitely would have burned him horribly.

Will-o-wisp. It was one of the moves that had debates on it every couple of years, mainly about its classification. Only recently had people seemed to decide on the fact it was a fire move because of the burns it caused, citing the near-perfect resemblance to fire. But others brought up the otherworldly energies felt when the move was used and the hypnotic presence it had and argued for a ghost classification.

He shook his head again. "I'm fine, Scorch. You've really got that move down." She yipped again at him, cocking her head to the side.

Ash turned back to his team. Gale had finished his training to the point of exhaustion and was panting quietly on a branch. Rhyhorn was narrowing his eyes at swirling eddies of dirt around him, trying to force them into shapes. He turned back to Scorch, who stared at the proceedings with her head cocked to the side.

"Come on, girl. Let's get to your training."

Scorch yipped and followed him.

Training with three was different. At first, Rhyhorn and Gale had settled into their position and were ready to deck it out again before they seemingly remembered they weren't alone any longer. Then they had turned to Ash and asked a silent question.

Ash was rather proud of his solution. He didn't want to teach any of them new moves yet, just work on their ability, and so he had Scorch join the razor wind training regime. She was to activate flash fire and stand on Rhyhorn's back, weighing him down and burning him. At the same time, she'd be launching ember attacks to try and hit Gale.

The first attempt had gone disastrously, and Ash had laughed his head off at their annoyed expression. A few sitrus berries and they were back at it again.

He leaned his back farther against the tree, arms aching even as he brushed Scorch once more. She purred deep in her chest, the sound comforting, and he slowly pried his fingers through a tight knot.

His team wasn't quite ready yet, and he doubted that he'd let Scorch fight Sabrina, but they were close. He would be ready.

xXx

Ash looked up at the towering city of Saffron once again. His team hadn't needed any healing with the night of peace they had gotten, and now he was ready to truly challenge the gym that had beat him already.

Thawne stayed at his desk when Ash walked in, though he could see a pulse of blue energy flash by his eyes. The psychic tensed before flicking his head up, eyes narrowing at the sight of him. Ash waved his hand, smiling a bit cheekily.

"You're back." When Ash didn't answer, he continued. "I believe I remember Lady Sabrina strictly requesting you challenge others before returning to her."

"Do I have to beat you again?" It was an honest question, though he hoped he didn't have to. He wanted his team to go straight into Sabrina to test his mettle once again. Thawne's eyes narrowed further.

"Technically," he ground out, "there is no need. Please, right this way." He stood slowly, a wave of psychic energy fixing the papers on his desk. Ash still grinned at what looked like magic to him - he couldn't comprehend having psychic powers and performing such miracles on seemingly a daily masic.

The battlefield was the same as he remembered it, blank dirt with a cushion of psychic energies burning around it. He marched onto his side, thanking Thawne quietly before the man marched off. There was a referee this time, a pale man with dull blonde hair and vivid green eyes. They made eye contact for a moment before the man turned back to reading through a list of papers in his hand.

He palmed his pokeballs, tapping lightly over the warmer one that held Scorch. She wouldn't be in the battle today, there was no need to put a pokemon that had only been under his care for less than a week and was still thinner than he wanted into a battle with one of the strongest trainers in Kanto. Gale would go first and Rhyhorn next. He needed his starter to defeat the kadabra, and he was sure Gale could handle whatever else Sabrina threw at him, even if it was still the slowpoke.

Though he wasn't looking, he became acutely aware of another presence in the room. When he raised his head, Sabrina stood on the other side of the battlefield, pokeballs hovering over her shoulders.

"You have returned," she noted. He didn't quite know how to answer that and settled for bobbing his head in agreement. Her eyes didn't look at his waist, but she smiled slightly anyway. "Two on two. You have trained hard."

"Thank you." He readied his pokeball as she forced hers forward with a surge of blue.

There wasn't a slowpoke that appeared on the battlefield this time. Instead, a venomoth took to the air, wings flapping lazily and expelling a cloud of dust with every movement. They didn't have the psychic typing, but they had evolved to have the powerful offensive moves to fight off predators.

With a grin, he released Gale. The spearow shrieked and took to the skies, hardly staying still as he swooped around to warm his blood from the pokeball daze. He narrowed beady black eyes at the venomoth, who merely blinked slowly up at him.

Ash took the first move. "Razor wind. Pursuit if needed."

It was a memento of how hard they had trained for how quickly Gale harnessed the energy. Almost immediately, a wall of blue-flecked wind slammed into the venomoth, sending it reeling backward. It didn't have the flying type either and couldn't resist, whipped around by the pressing winds. Sabrina's glowing eyes narrowed a speck.

Even through the force of the wind, Ash could see the blue fade away as another color took priority. A pale yellow-green swirled around the room in eddies, bouncing lightly off of the psychic barriers.

"Stun spore," he said, trusting Gale's sharp ears. "Lower your strength to stop it rebounding up to you."

Annoyingly, Venomoth seemed entirely unaffected by its own spores. As the razor wind decreased, it flapped rather quickly for its breed to regain its balance before climbing steadily higher, eyes flashing blue.

Gale dropped the razor wind like it was burning and slipped quickly into pursuit. Shadows clung to his form as he circled over Venomoth's head, shrieking a challenge even as he tried to find an opening. He didn't quite know where to attack that wouldn't let him be hit by Venomoth's natural poison protection.

Ash had to get it grounded. "Ignore the poison and use pursuit!"

With a shriek, Gale dove. His beak slammed a hole right through Venomoth's fragile right wing.

Humming and buzzing in a frenzy, Venomoth slowly fell, still flapping furiously with its other wing. Sabrina didn't recall her pokemon, and Ash knew why - bug types often lost their wings or had them seriously damaged, and it wouldn't be long until it regenerated, especially with Nurse Joy's help. Venomoth slammed into the dirt and buzzed again, weaker, but its eyes flared blue.

Gale growled and shrieked, poison working its way through his system even as he flew widely. Ash's eyes widened as he saw the stun spore start to swirl up at his spearow's frenzied movements, coming closer and closer to putting his friend out of the fight.

"Calm down, bud! Watch out for the stun spore and use razor wind to pin it, then attack." He said, narrowing his eyes. Venomoth was charging up some sort of psychic attack but Sabrina's strategy was flawless and he had little doubt it would eventually pull Gale out of the fight.

Razor wind pelted down from above as Gale swooped around while using the move to dodge the lazy yellow-green particles. Venomoth was stretched flat against the ground, even though it tried to twitch its left wing to release another powder attack. Gale was having none of it and as soon as he knew that Venomoth was definitely stopped, he dove like a comet.

But he hadn't used pursuit. With a groan, Venomoth released over a dozen tiny psybeams streaking over the field.

Training with Scorch kicked in. He dove under three and swerved around another, but there were too many. Two more slammed into his outstretched wings and threw him back far enough to hit the psychic barriers, shrieking as the pain only accelerated the poison moving through his veins.

He struggled back to the air, eyes narrowed. Another razor wind pinned the moth while a flawless pursuit streaked through and nearly punctured the bug's carapace before Sabrina recalled it with an emotionless expression.

Ash stared over at Gale, reaching down to grab his pokeball. But the spearow shrieked a warning, flexing his wings even as tremors from the poison ran over his body. This was where he had been taken out last time they battled Sabrina, but not this round. He wanted a few more licks before he went out.

Like he had feared, Kadabra appeared on the field. It seemed to recognize him, black eyes flashing as it tilted its head at him. Its spoon thrummed with psychic energy, floating low over the field. Ash took the first move.

"Razor wind. Pursuit once it's pinned."

The psychic type immediately threw up a shield as Gale pumped the blue wind across the field with a shriek. It rebounded sharply, swirling around the bottom of the battlefield and losing its strength. Gale kept it up, pounding his wings against the sky as the poison burned its way toward his heart.

Kadabra narrowed its eyes, thrusting its spoon forward again, nearly bending it in half as it redoubled its strength on the shield. Even then, Ash could see the barest of cracks appear on its surface.

With the flash of hasty teleportation, Kadabra disappeared and emerged below Gale. It narrowed its eyes and flung a burst of psychic energy, no refinement or control. Gale didn't have any time to react or move before it struck him cleanly across the chest. His eyes closed and he fell.

Kadabra twitched its tail and Gale's descent was slowed long enough for Ash to press the button on his pokeball. It teleported back to Sabrina's side and stared blankly at him, prepared for its next battle.

Ash grinned and released Rhyhorn. His blood was thrumming through him with this battle, and there was no chance he'd back down now. His starter roared a challenge, waiting faithfully for Ash's command. "Horn attack."

Rhyhorn readied his horn and charged. Kadabra twitched its mustache irritably, blue eyes shining from its connection with Sabrina, and began building a psybeam. When Rhyhorn had only cleared half of the distance, it let it rip in a blast of spiraling rainbow light.

The ground type dug his claws in the second he saw it coming, growling. It slammed just above his horn and he dug nearly a foot of perfectly straight lines into the dirt, but it only halted his charge for a second. The next, he was darting forward and slamming his horn into Kadabra's midsection.

It was flung silently backward. When it rose up again, its eyes were narrowed with anger and its tail twitched violently, the first solid hit it had been struck by this battle jarring its arrogance from its hold. Its spoon writhed in its grip, seeming to melt and then reform the next second, held in place by unmeasurable psychic powers.

Rhyhorn paced, circling Kadabra as best he could. His scarlet eyes gleamed as he rounded the corner off near Ash's side, preparing for the command he knew he was coming. "Spite, then smack down."

Sabrina knew he had this move, if she hadn't already read his mind to figure out all of his others. It wasn't too much of his surprise when Kadabra began teleporting smoothly the second he saw the shadows dripping from Rhyhorn's mouth.

Now came the real part of his training. While Rhyhorn let the spite simmer in his throat, still drawing on the energy, he began to use smack down. It was a slow, unsteady process, and the dirt trembled wildly as it rose, but he still harnessed both moves at once, even though one was technically dormant.

Ash couldn't hold back the wild grin on his face. "Fire!"

Kadabra slid into a silent teleport the moment the syllable left his lips, but Rhyhorn had launched the dirt in any direction he could. It smacked into Kadabra as it reappeared, pushing it down and grounding it for the one second that Rhyhorn needed. Grunting, he launched the shockwave of ghostly energy all across the field.

He saw the wild flash of light from Kadabra's attempt to throw up a shield, but the spite powered directly through and sucked its energy. It struggled back to its feet, using psychic energy to overpower the ghostly essence as best it could and also to brush off the residue from the smack down. Its gleaming eyes burned.

"Horn attack," he muttered, although he doubted Sabrina couldn't hear him with her powers. "Make it count."

With a bellow like grating stone, Rhyhorn lunged forward. Kadabra jerked its molten spoon forward, a buzzing hum echoing through the battlefield. An eerie blue light flickered over the battlefield, rising over Kadabra and settling on its golden fur. Ash's eyes widened as he recognized it. Psychic.

Rhyhorn heard his desperate commands and shut off his charge, awkwardly turning as best he could and trying to lunge to the side. Kadabra spun to face him and released a beam of electric blue energy so intense Ash stumbled backward.

His starter collapsed. Kadabra sagged, but it didn't teleport back to Sabrina's side nor cease its warriness. It knew the battle wasn't over.

Rhyhorn wasn't unconscious. He was weak, and barely trembling from his fallen position, but he wasn't out yet. "Come on, bud!" Ash shouted. Sabrina tilted her head even as Kadabra stood, tail twitching to keep its balance.

"We're so close, Rhyhorn. This is what we've been working for. One more hit," he whispered, pressing a hand against the psychic barriers.

With a groan, Rhyhorn forced himself to his feet. His scarlet eyes met Ash's with nothing but his strength of will keeping him running, his desire to win crushing his body's weakness. He turned toward Kadabra, front legs shaking even as he tried to stop them.

"One more hit! Horn attack!" Ash shouted. Rhyhorn bellowed back and charged.

Kadabra raised its spoon, but Rhyhorn had nailed it with spite and its energy was still drained. The silver barely seemed to shift as Kadabra tried to concentrate its power into one final move. Sabrina's eyes gleamed as she cut off their connection and simply watched the last act.

The psybeam would have knocked out Rhyhorn if it had hit. Weakened though it was, it still gleamed with fluctuating energy as it snapped through the air. Rhyhorn stopped dead in his tracks and shuffled backward as best he could, claws digging into the ground. It exploded only two feet in front of his horn.

He roared as the aftereffects hit him, front legs trembling weakly even as he forced himself forward. Kadabra shoved its spoon forward one more time, but now it only stood there, its master drained of all damage.

Rhyhorn jabbed Kadabra in the chest and it fell backward, collapsed. Exhausted. Defeated.

Ash waited for only another second before recalling his pokemon. He couldn't help the grin that ran over his face nor the whoop that escaped it. It had happened! He had finally beat Sabrina!

She teleported the instant her pokemon was recalled. "A worthy battle," she admitted, eyes bright on her almost expressionless face. "You have indeed earned this badge."

Ash held onto the metal like a dying man. Two pale gold circles within each other, bright and shining. He could have sworn warmth emanated from its surface, although that might have been his flushed cheeks talking.

"Return later, if you would like a true battle. I feel you have not yet shown your true potential." Leaving Ash to ponder the strange words, she teleported out of the battlefield with nary a hiss.

Ash couldn't stop grinning. He glanced over but the referee was already gone, though the man hadn't seemed to do that much anyway. Thawne was probably expecting him to walk meekly out of the gym for the second time.

He trotted toward the front door to prove the psychic wrong again.

xXx

Ash walked through Saffron City. He had taken the logical step and had given Nurse Joy the night to heal up both of his pokemon. Gale had spent nearly three minutes with poison in his system, even though it hadn't been a strong burst. In the heat of the moment he hadn't considered his friend's life, although by the way Nurse Joy was talking, it had been serious than he had thought.

The town was nice, and he had explored around while waiting. Silph Co tower was politely closed off to the public for tours at the moment, citing some sort of project an anonymous sponsor had donated for, though it wouldn't be released to the public for quite some time.

But now he was ready to leave. Saffron was large and pressing, in the same way a mountain would be. He wanted the burst of fresh air that Route 7 would bring, although only for a week before he was in another city for another badge.

Celadon City, home of both grass types and an unreasonable amount of tourists. He'd have to fight rather hard to get there, but that would mean a fair amount more trainers, which he hoped would cover the costs of an extra carnivore mouth to feed, which, along with the brush, had drained him more than he would have liked.

He especially needed money to buy some of the fabled TMs in the Celadon Department Store. Though he had no idea what his team would get, that hardly changed his mind from his want for them. Moves to cover their weaknesses were a must before he focused on their strengths, although he was sure he would find something. Celadon had everything - it was almost their motto.

So with that in mind, he started to set off toward the route. It would take him maybe thirty minutes to get through town if Nurse Joy was correct, and he wanted as big of a head start on the week-long Route 7 as he could get.

But he stopped on the borders of the town, curiosity overcome.

There was something furiously hissing down the closest alley, two bright eyes shining in the dark as they whipped around to stare at something. It was probably just a meowth, but something still flickered in Ash's chest. Normally they were quiet creatures who avoided attention in order to carry out their thefts. But not this one, for some reason.

Moving as quietly as he could, he crept down the alley, keeping his body low to the ground and avoiding any dead leaves or broken cans. Shadows fell heavily on him, the morning sun still hugging the horizon, but he zeroed in on the pokemon's hisses.

In another couple of seconds, he had reached the source of the noise just as it went silent.

A meowth stood stick straight in the alley, golden brown fur shining as it stood in an awfully still position, claws raised and ears forward. Its wide eyes were slitted but open, unseeing, glowing a pale, unnatural blue.

Ash watched as the meowth stumbled unsteadily over to the wall of the nearest building as if it didn't know its own body, claws extending and sheathing at random and ears twitching like they were being blown in a breeze.

With the shriek of stone, it fully extended its claws and began to rip away at the red brick. Ash blinked and stepped forward, foot clipping a rusted can and sending it clattering away. The meowth's ears never even twitched, still furiously digging at the wall with the strength only pokemon had.

To his confusion, it was making headway. While he was still trying to figure out what was happening, it had worked out a divot nearly the size of its paw into the wall and was digging steadily deeper, almost as if it was trying to reach something. Ash saw drops of blood hit the brick. It was ripping itself as it tried to get to whatever was in the wall.

It was then he moved. Releasing one of his pokemon, he moved back as Rhyhorn thudded against the ground, settling his hand on his back. Rhyhorn looked up at him and rumbled in confusion, although his eyes narrowed quickly in on the meowth as its claws scrapped another rough note from the stone.

"Can you try and get it away from the wall? Don't hurt it, though. Be gentle," he tried, shifting closer, although he didn't get too close to the meowth. All pokemon were dangerous, although the enchanted normal type seemed less so.

Rhyhorn plodded forward, pausing in front of the scratch cat pokemon. It didn't even look at the noticeably larger pokemon that it normally would have run away from. Scarlet eyes narrowing, Rhyhorn leaned forward and pushed his snout against the meowth's chest. It only reacted by awkwardly shifting its arm up to keep digging at the brick.

Ash made a 'go on' motion. Rhyhorn jabbed his horn at its chest and managed to throw it on its back, although he never pierced through its skin.

The meowth still kept staring up, eyes flickering with blue flame, arms extended as it dug at an imaginary wall. Ash could see the injury - a nick at the base of one of its claws, scrapped against the rock most likely. But it didn't stop digging, scrapping at whatever it couldn't see in front of it.

Ash was thoroughly weirded out. It would only be a couple of minutes to the Pokemon Center, and he doubted the meowth would move much with the trance it was in. Just as he turned to get Nurse Joy, someone appeared in the entrance of the alleyway.

It was a man, one tall though rather lanky. He had pale blond hair that curled over his shoulder in a manner akin to dreadlocks, outfit a strange mixture of black and light grey. The thing that stood out most were his vivid green eyes.

Ash blinked. He recognized him. "Referee?"

The man's face dropped into a furious scowl and he seemed to barely restrain himself from a surge of frustration. " _I_ was merely attending Sabrina's challenge in order to speak to her later." His voice was a tone biting, but he dropped it soon enough as his gaze fell upon the meowth. "What did you do to it?"

"Nothing." Rhyhorn rumbled up at the man, squaring his shoulders and puffing out dusty breath. His horn gleamed but Ash kicked him, silencing his growl and forcing him back a step so he wouldn't threaten the man so blatantly, though he scowled furiously from behind him. "I just heard it in the alley and came to investigate. How'd you know it was here?"

For a moment, the man didn't seem to want to explain. But then he sighed and began to speak in a hurried, serious tone. "It's generating enough psychic energy to be an alakazam, but the energy's message says it's under duress. Sabrina was checking out over four other accounts exactly like this and she sent me off to find this one to give her the tiniest reprieve."

The meowth still clawed heedlessly at the sky, eyes flaring and flickering as the man grew closer. He touched its chest, moving skillfully around its flashing claws, and narrowed his eyes at the drops of blood collecting on its golden fur. "Move back," he warned. "I'm calling out one of my partners."

Ash and Rhyhorn scuttled backward. With the flash of a pokeball, a pokemon appeared. It was equal to Ash, nearly five feet tall, although its strange mass of hair added several inches. Its fur was a dark shade of grey, shining like thunderclouds, spiked at the shoulders and knees. It had a fox-like face, narrow blue eyes sparking as it looked around, but the strangest thing was the hair. Ash could only compare it to a ponytail, a bloody red extension swirling down to the thing's feet. It looked around and growled in a surprisingly warm way, barely giving Rhyhorn more than a glance. Ash could understand why - even from several feet away, he could feel the _presence_ the thing exuded, something thick and pressing.

"Zoroark, find the source. Can you trace it?" The man said, stepping away from the meowth. He reached into a bag on the side of his outfit, pulling out a shrunken pokeball, though he primed it quickly.

Hissing, Zoroark knelt by the normal type. It extended its claws, vividly scarlet things that looked longer than Rhyhorn's horn, and felt the air above the meowth like it was testing for wind. After a moment, it looked back at the man and shook its head.

He visibly gritted his teeth before sighing. "Cut it."

Baring its fangs, Zoroark felt the air one more time before sliding its claws back into its paws. It leaned down and nosed against the meowth's chest, ignoring its pitiful claws as they scratched around its muzzle.

With a flash, the blue around its eyes disappeared. The meowth closed its eyes and yowled piteously, limbs sagging in some form of overreaching exhaustion. It opened its gaze to see Zoroark still touching its chest and promptly passed out.

The man sighed, kneeling to tap the pokeball against the meowth. He stroked behind Zoroark's jagged ears as the ball quivered, thumbing over the tips in a familiar way. It churred up at him before it was recalled, disappearing quickly into its pokeball. After another moment, the pokeball chimed successful.

Ash blinked. He had maybe understood one thing that happened. "What was that?"

The man glanced over at him like he had forgotten he existed. "Something was controlling the meowth, filling it with that psychic energy. Zoroark was able to remove it as a dark type but we'll have to hope on Sabrina finding the source with her psychic types. I wasn't able to." The man's expression twisted at those words.

"Zoroark?" He focused in on the unfamiliar pokemon name. "Where's it from?"

"She," the man corrected, sighing again. "Unova. I doubt you'll find any others here." His expression sharpened again. "Any reason you saw the meowth?"

"Not really. I just heard noises down the alley and since most urban pokemon keep pretty quiet, I was curious. I honestly didn't know what was happening. I was about to go get Nurse Joy," he offered, spreading his hands like it showed his innocence.

The man stretched a hand over his temple as if he was rubbing away a migraine. "Come along, then. Where are you heading?"

"Route 7. I'm going to challenge Erika." The man's lips quirked up at the fierce tone in his voice but didn't say anything about it. "Why?"

"I'll take you. Take it as thanks for keeping that meowth from injuring itself more than it already was." Spinning on his heels fast enough to make his dark clothes flare out, he began to march out of the alley. Ash ran after him, cursing the man's longer legs. Rhyhorn trotted behind him, eyes less untrusting but not sold.

As much as he was annoyed to admit, the man worked his way through the crowds like a master. He was an expert on flaring his chest and intimidating others to walk around him while hugging the sidewalks in order to avoid the larger, unmovable clumps. Ash trotted in his shadow, moving quickly to avoid being swallowed by the constantly moving people.

In a mere fifteen minutes, they had arrived at the edge of the town. Ash grinned at the fresh breeze that had never penetrated Saffron City reached his lungs, bright and refreshing. He made to take a step forward and paused when the man copied his motion. "What are you doing?"

"Following you," he said blithely. "Unless you'd like to pull up your hood and stalk broodingly for the rest of your journey, of course."

Ash couldn't help the pink tinge on his cheeks and shook his head. "No, I'm fine. I was just confused."

They fell into step, although Ash was forced to lengthen his stride to match the man's freakish long legs. Rhyhorn faithfully trotted beside him, strengthening both his endurance and intimidation by maintaining a constant glare at the blond.

"While I was not the referee," he started, voice dipping slightly on the last word, "I was indeed watching your match. May I offer some pointers?"

Ash brightened. "That'd be great, but only if you tell me your name."

"Oh? I had forgotten?" The man seemed like he had honestly thought he had mentioned it, blinking. "I am Gladion, serving under the League this year. I'm a step above ACE trainers, you'll find, and I get sent on whatever suits the League's fancy." There was both a bragging and bitter note in his voice.

Ash frowned, but he couldn't place the name. Of course, there were thousands of people employed under the League, but he tended to pay attention to high-level ACE trainers and those above. A new employee, maybe? He didn't focus on it.

He waited a second before starting again. "As I was saying, your pokemon are well trained, though meager in their power at their current level. They are both fighters, however, I will indeed give you that. Will you call your team?"

Ash released Gale. The spearow shrieked, raising his wings as if to take to the air before he saw Gladion. His growl was even more impressive than when he used it on the vulpix and he nearly took to the skies before Ash knelt and scooped him up, placing him on his spearowry glove.

"Sorry," he offered. "He's not too used to other people, I guess. Probably thought you were a trainer."

Gladion nodded, removing his hands from his pokeball. He hadn't ever seemed threatened, only curious.

Ash waited a second more before releasing Scorch. She tensed and stared around, taking a long moment to absorb the surroundings. He felt a pang of guilt at her flinch at the sight of Gladion, but she recovered quickly and shook herself, curling his tails luxuriously before turning to Ash.

"That's Rhyhorn, Gale, and Scorch," he said, pointing to each of them in turn. Scorch yipped a greeting while Rhyhorn rumbled, although Gale kept with a silent stare. He had seemed to understand shrieking directly in Ash's ear wasn't the most pleasant experience and had reigned himself in recently.

Gladion nodded. "They have good beginnings. Your rhyhorn in particularly has good spirit - what is its ability?" At Ash's answer, he continued. "I would suggest teaching it shock wave. By letting it charge at the electricity generators in Pokemon Centers, it can store the electricity until it learns how to naturally produce it by himself. There are several TMs I feel would be useful in Celadon, namely flamethrower and sandstorm. But I will that up to you."

"Your spearow - Gale, was it? - is close to evolving. Its crest, in particular, is a good measure for this - it is smoothly transitioning to red and I assume that its beak has lengthened since when you met. Increasing its food will help a safer evolution and perhaps limit its battles against weaker pokemon. Spearow, in particular, have a much higher aggression rate than other pokemon."

Ash saw the slight smile on his face when he turned to Scorch. "Your newest member, I presume. When did you find it?"

"Just on Route 8. She was the leader of a pack."

Gladion nodded. "Four tails is an accomplishment at her apparent young age. Vulpix are not known for their firepower, as I'm sure you've discovered, but their control is higher than most, if not all, other fire types. She will land more hits but they will be weaker. Instead of training her on attempting to increase her power, I'd suggest more technique based moves until she has six tails and can summon more fire. Hex and perhaps fire spin would not be bad choices."

"Thank you," Ash said, grinning. Scorch tucked herself closer to his leg as Gladion stopped moving, something buzzing against his wrist. He extended his arm and pulled back his sleeve to expose a pokenav humming quietly.

The device looked several leaps and bounds ahead of his own pokedex and Ash couldn't help but admire it. Gladion pressed two fingers against its screen and read the message that appeared, a dip appearing between his furrowed brows. He turned back to Ash.

"It appears I am summoned. Rest assured, the meowth will be healed and returned to the wild in a safer location. If you will?"

Ash moved back at his motion, pulling Rhyhorn back by his spines. Gladion withdrew another pokeball and released its occupant.

He did recognize the pokemon that came out, though he'd never seen one in person before. The crobat was at the peak of its prime, purple fur gleaming and golden eyes bright. He couldn't believe that it was nearly as tall as him yet hovered in midair so effortlessly - it hardly seemed to even notice it was flying. It flapped its four wings smoothly, waiting patiently as Gladion offered it the meowth's pokeball. "To Nurse Joy," he whispered.

His pokemon chittered at him before taking off, soaring so quickly into the sky it was little more than a dot in a heartbeat. Gladion smiled softly at it before he cleared his expression once against and turned to Ash.

"I will take my leave. The best of luck toward your gym battle," he said, turning sharply on his heel. Rather quickly, he was out of sight, heading back toward Saffron City.

Ash turned back to his pokemon, who were all staring up at him. In a silent response, he pried the Marsh Badge from his case and showed it to them. All voiced their excitement, eyes bright.

He looked onward toward Route 7, where he would eventually find Erika and her team of grass types.

Ash had beaten Sabrina. He wouldn't lose now.

xXx

 **Hey guys! So I know these chapters are taking a while but I like to think they're better than Misfits was.**

 **So far, I'd like to see what you think of Team Rocket. I can think of very few chapters in this story that won't involve them in some way, even indirectly with Gideon or in this chapter. But they are not some quiet force that shows up randomly with no plan other than to steal pokemon.** **Let me put it this way - every action they take in this story is leading up to one, overarching plan that dwarfs anything the League - or Ash, at least at the beginning - thinks they are capable of. Boy, will they prove them wrong.**

 **But yeah! I hope you like Gladion. I adore Alola and Kalos and those will probably be the two regions I'll pull most of my extra knowledge from, as well as possible regions for Ash to travel through later. Yes, Gladion does have silvally, but it's his ace and also not really a recognized pokemon so he'll be keeping it away for the most part. Also, I don't want to draw any thunder away from another fic!**

 **Smooth segway out of the way, I'd like to recommend Mateusz's The Mortal Earth. It's about Ash's journey through Hoenn and it's so realistic I want to jump right into the world whenever I open it! Seriously, give it a read. This story needs more love.**

 **Please enjoy and review!**


	3. Those Hidden

Ash was enjoying Route 7 far more than he probably should have. It was reasonably short with pleasant trees and wide expanses of open grassland, the sweet scent of pollen bobbing around as summer settled over Kanto. He hadn't found any more berry groves but the shining leaves of the oak trees - he guessed, at least, never let it be known that he knew everything about the Kanto wilderness - made for a stunning backdrop against the sun.

Rhyhorn plodded diligently by his side, every footfall sending tiny tremors through the earth. Ash had been working slowly with him, conscious of his younger age, but he was growing nicely and Ash guessed maybe a month until he was full grown.

Gale was somewhere overhead, flying furiously. Ash had long since given up trying to keep him from attacking any pidgey that flew across his path, and his heightened aggression didn't help matters in the slightest. As far as he knew, there would be free pickings for any trainers coming behind him judging by the number of times Gale flew back to him with ruffled feathers.

Scorch was, well, still a work in progress. He had bought her several types of food but she seemed to have no taste other than eat it all, a common staple of wild pokemon. Eventually, he hoped to reign in the instinct to gorge herself as if she'd never get food again, but that would be a while, he knew. He had put her in several battles, though not against a water type yet, and she had shown her prowess. Scorch was the skill instead of the power that all of his pokemon had been learning from.

There had been a fair amount of trainers so far, and he had challenged all of them. A few had turned him down but it was still the beginning of most everyone's trainer journey - they were still full of the rich fire that kept them walking for hours every day chasing impossible dreams. Now that he had had his win streak broken by Sabrina, he hadn't felt quite as upset at having an older gentleman with a seadra take him down. But all of the others had fallen before him. Scorch was rapidly growing in her pride now that he constantly brushed her and she was allowed to show her strength, and Ash was still working on a way to nip that little idea in the bud before it could consume her.

But it was still a beautiful route, far from the drenched darkness of Route 8. Sunlight almost constantly played on his skin, to the point where he had ditched his protective pants for shorts and hadn't once thought about going back. Scorch thrived in the heat, Gale tolerated it, and Rhyhorn barely seemed to notice the temperature change.

He had been training rather heavily, working on their old moves. Today, however, he was going to start on a few new ones, though he doubted they'd be ready by the time he challenged Erika. It just wasn't very realistic.

The night was chilly, though it still was better than he had found on some of the other routes. Beedrill had made themselves an issue that day and he kept a keen ear even as he set out his team in front of him. Rhyhorn docily sat there, ready for his command, and he smiled and tapped the ground type behind his horn, earning a pleased rumble.

"Next gym is grass types, which means Gale and Scorch are going to be the main trainers. Rhyhorn, bud, you're going to have to sit this one out."

He was prepared for the furious rumble but that didn't mean he didn't wonder whether his starter would be able to hold his own. Ash knelt down by the spikes pokemon, rubbing a hand between his plates and scratching out the week-old dirt that had worked itself beneath his armor. "I'm sorry, Rhyhorn. But you have a double weakness and you don't have any moves that you could use to counteract that. I promise that this and Misty's gym might be the only ones you might not fight in. I promise for all the others you'll be my main fighter."

Rhyhorn made another sad croon, trying to convince him that he could fight, but Ash shook his head. He knew what he needed to do. Another touch behind the horn and he stood up to finish addressing the rest of his team.

"Alright guys, I've got a few new moves I'd like you to learn. Don't worry about getting them perfect in time for the battle. Rhyhorn, I think its time we moved on from smack down. Rock blast is a pretty powerful move and I think we can get it to the point where you can create rocks instead of pulling them from the ground. I'll work with you first. Gale, work on speed for a bit until I come over. Scorch, I have some ideas for your next move, but not yet. Right now, I want you to work on your control of your embers and will-o-wisps. It's only the most basic of psychic control, but I know you can learn more psychic attacks, so this will be a great stepping stone if you can really get your control down to a t." She yipped in confirmation, twitching her tails.

Gale took to the skies with a disgruntled shriek. He didn't like playing second fiddle to Rhyhorn, though Ash rather expected he'd change his tune once he showed him the next move he wanted him to learn. Scorch waited patiently a moment before he gestured to a corner of their clearing, a section relatively clear of most vegetation and underbrush. Rhyhorn rumbled and trotted after Ash.

Ash kept going for a second until he was able to find what he was looking for - a boulder, one about the size of him. "Horn attack," he said, pointing toward the stone. Rhyhorn narrowed his scarlet eyes before lunging forward and slamming his horn up.

He couldn't stop the high chuckle that escaped him once the dust cleared. The boulder was in shambles, broken chunks littering the floor with barely anything intact. Actually, it was a little more broken than he wanted, but no matter. Pretending to be inspecting the rock, he scooped up a handful of dirt.

Ash spun around and tossed it into the air. "Catch!"

Rhyhorn rumbled in surprise but managed to lock onto the earth, letting only a few chunks fall while the rest hovered near his spines. He leveled a glare at Ash but kept floating the smack down above him.

"Okay, set it down." His starter did so, and Ash knelt again. He came up with a pebble about the size of his fist. "Catch this."

Rhyhorn narrowed his eyes, clearly concentrating, and Ash tossed the pebble. It slowed for a second before smacking Rhyhorn right between the eyes. He roared in far more confusion than pain, almost going cross-eyed to see where the offending stone had hit him. Part of the rock had broken off with impact.

Ash laughed, bending over to pick up the rock again. "It's going to be a lot harder. Try picking it up straight from my hand, it might be easier." He extended his palm, fingers flat. If Rhyhorn looked any harder at the rock, it was going to explode.

He could feel it wobble in his palm, shaking and trembling. The very tip of the jagged edge left his skin before falling again. Rhyhorn let out a puff of dusty breath, sighing and shaking his head. This was going to take a while.

"Rhyhorn, let's work on something different. This isn't going to be a walk in the park, and I don't want you getting frustrated. So what I want you to do is split your attention between rock blast and stone sense. I'm going to toss this rock - not at you - and I want you to find it and try to move it." He paused. "I'll be covering your eyes, though."

His starter narrowed his eyes, leaning down to shove his nose at the closest rock while Ash went back over to his bag. He found his dirtiest pair of pants and, wincing at the smell, walked back over to Rhyhorn, holding them up. Folding the legs together, he laid it over Rhyhorn's eyes and tied the ends behind his face plate. The ground type sneezed, shaking his head. Ash hadn't been kidding when it was his dirtiest pair of pants. Route 7 had had a pleasant enough rain in his first couple of days, but that pleasant rain soon went away and was replaced by rivers of mud. Gale hadn't even dared to land on the constantly-falling Ash's shoulder, flying high overhead. Scorch had avoided it by perching on Rhyhorn's back, who had barely seemed to notice the weight. He enjoyed the mud, though Ash had had to dig away copious amounts from beneath his plates and spines once they stopped for the night.

Ash knelt back down by the ruined boulder, picking up a dozen smaller rocks. Rhyhorn turned toward him, already extending his stone sense to feel his vibrations. He stomped his foot, waited for a second, and threw the first stone.

It landed a couple of feet to Rhyhorn's right. The ground type rumbled, spines twitching before turning roughly toward the direction. He was good at sensing human-sized vibrations, but anything smaller was still an issue. Ash nodded, watching the rock tremble against the ground. Once it seemed to make all the progress Rhyhorn would, he tossed another, nearly seven feet away. This time, Rhyhorn turned several directions, his confusion only growing once the vibrations gave way. Ash stepped forward to pry the edge of his pants up, exposing the stone nearly 90 degrees to his left.

Rhyhorn growled in frustration. He flicked his head back to knock the pants down, jerking his head at Ash to continue. Ash was only too happy to comply.

xXx

Gale came only a minute after he whistled, shrieking proudly. He was missing a primary - must have been a pidgeotto to do that amount of damage. But the spearow seemed no worse for wear and instead held himself tall, breast puffed out in victory. Ash sighed and stroked over his crest, smoothing down the fearsome red feathers. He held up his pokedex, where a video was open.

"Okay, this new move will probably take you a long time to learn. I expect you'll probably still be working on it well after everyone else finishes." He barely had time to finish his sentence before Gale squawked outrageously. He flexed his wings, shaking his head and turning it to the side, pointedly looking away from him.

Ash couldn't help the grin that spread over his face. "I did mention the fact that it's normally only fearow that learn this move, right? Or that it never misses? Or that most pokemon have to download the knowledge because they can't gather the energy needed to use it?" His grin widened as Gale cocked his head in his direction.

He held up his pokedex. "In fact, in all of the searching I did, I couldn't find a single video of a spearow doing it, because it's supposed to be so powerful only fearow can do it. If you learn it, no one will see it coming." Ash faked a long, suffering sigh. "If only you wanted to learn it, though."

Gale shrieked, taking off to land on Ash's shoulder pad. Ash grinned and covered the pokedex screen with his hand. The spearow pecked, softly, at his shoulder, puffing out his feathers and only barely containing another angry shriek.

"Oh, but I thought you didn't _want_ to learn it. It'll take too long." Ash couldn't hold back the teasing, but after one look in Gale's narrowed eyes, he gave in, still laughing. "Alright, you dumb bird. Here you go."

He uncovered the pokedex and showed the screen to Gale. It began with a fearow flying overhead, large and powerful, obviously at its prime. The very air curved around it. Then, with a shriek a hundred times louder than Gale's, it began to glow a fearsome white, infused with energy. Like a speeding comet, it fell from the sky, wings tucked to its side and enormous beak extended. It hit a tree nearly three feet across and broke it in half immediately. The video ended right as the trunk groaned and thudded to the ground.

Ash looked over at Gale's wide eyes. "That's called aerial ace. It's probably the most powerful move I could teach you right now. And believe me when I say that it's going to take a while."

Gale shook his head, extending his wings and shrieking. Ash winced at the sound but took it for what it meant - he was ready to learn.

"We're going to start with the energy. You already have a hold on it with razor wind, but we need to expand that. The second aspect is speed. If you don't go fast enough, you won't be able to use the move. Don't get me wrong, Gale - while it's incredibly powerful, it's also dangerous. If you don't learn it right, this could seriously injure you. What you're going to do is do speed exercises while using razor wind. I doubt you'll make much headway today, but see whether you can prove me wrong."

Gale shrieked, spreading his legs to take off. With an almost pleased chirp, he leaned over and nipped at Ash's ear, immediately taking off the next second. Ash laughed, touching his ear. Seems they were finally understanding each other.

xXx

Scorch yipped at him when he approaching, dissolving the will-o-wisp above her head before he could be caught in its hypnosis. The blue flame attracted his attention for the second even while it disappeared.

"You're really good at that move, girl," he congratulated, before frowning for a second. "What do you use to make it?"

She narrowed her eyes, flicking her tails up. He could see a bluish hue appear from the red-brown of her fur, but it disappeared before it could fully form. Scorch looked up at him, confusion in her eyes as she seemed to try and figure out how to tell him.

What she settled for was digging at the ground. "Earth? Ground?" He asked, but she growled and kept digging. By the time she had gotten both of her front paws in the ground, she apparently found what she was looking for. A whitish pebble was thrown in front of him.

"Rock energy?" She shook her head. He knelt by the rock, picking it up and looking it over. Ash couldn't find anything other than a regular rock and he set it down again, the white sharp against the ground. Scorch yipped to get his attention before falling on her side rather dramatically, closing her eyes and going still. It took him a moment to understand. "Death?"

She yipped again, before standing up. Bracing her front paws on the ground, she threw her head back and made the sound that had first announced her arrival. A hunting cry. Once she saw he understood, she cut it off and fell into a battle crouch, tails whipping. She pounced on the rock, picking it up in her fangs.

"When you hunt, you can use it?" She narrowed her eyes again, thinking, before picking up the rock and miming dying again. Ash suddenly understood. "When you kill something for the first time, you're able to use the energy?"

Scorch barked warmly, dropping the pebble back into the earth. Ash guessed it was meant to be bone or something similar. "So that means that it uses ghost type energy. Girl, I was going to teach you fire spin next, but I think I have a better plan that you'll like."

Ash sat down cross-legged, and Scorch immediately trotted forward to lay down in his lap. He chuckled but began to pet her, teasing out a knot from one of her tails. "See, vulpix are strangely connected to the mind arts trio. You can, in total, learn five psychic moves, four ghost moves, and five dark type moves, and that's without TMs. That's a fair amount for a pokemon not part of that type, right?" She yipped, listening intensely.

"Vulpix aren't the most physically sturdy creatures, I think you know. So it's thought that they evolved their mind to defend themselves, namely with the mind arts trio. That's how you have so good of control over your fireballs."

He scratched behind her ears, eliciting a pleased yip, deep in thought. "So I think the best idea right now is to teach you more ghost moves. You already have access to the energy, which is really quite impressive, and something that causes a lot of harm while keeping you safely out of harm's way is hex."

"It's a ghost move, but with a special attack. If the pokemon is poisoned, burned, paralyzed, or others, it uses that pain to double the attack." She yipped, excited. "So if we can learn will-o-wisp to a finer degree of control and then add hex after that, I don't think a lot of pokemon could stand up to you."

Ash regrettably pushed her out of his lap, unwinding his legs to stand up and stretch. "So practice will-o-wisp today, girl, and I think tomorrow we'll be able to start on hex. I promise I'll teach you another fire move soon, but right now this is the best option."

Scorch yipped her agreement. Ash hurried out of the corner before she could create the hypnotic flames, grinning.

xXx

Ash was tired, sweaty, and sore when he finally finished trudging through the route. Celadon City awaited, and with it Erika, the gym leader. He just had to find them first.

He smelled it before he even saw it.

Back in Pallet Town, there had been a grove of pine trees that his mother adored. She would take home the needles and distill them in a pot of water until the entire house smelled like nature. Every time he turned a corner, he half expected to find a small forest instead of his room, rattata and pidgey roaming everywhere.

Celadon City was like that, but multiplied.

Pine fresh combined with wildflowers combined with mint hit him like a hitmonchan. It was a wall surrounding the city, mixing with the route's own natural scent and emboldening it up a thousand percent.

He walked in hesitantly, dirt fading away to slabs of stone beneath his feet. Though the smell was strong, it wasn't quite overpowering, and he adjusted after a few seconds. The next issue came with the buzz of people he could hear even before he had gotten onto the final stretch to Celadon.

Ash was well aware that a few cities in Kanto received more attention than others. Saffron had the largest company beside the League and attracted many hopefuls, Vermillion was a coast town, tourists swarmed Cinnabar Island like a meowth on something shiny. Celadon was crowded, sure, but it was supposed to be a fraction of the people in Cinnabar.

When he finally pushed past the route and ended up on the paved streets of Celadon, he figured this was probably pretty close to being hit by a twister from a dragonite. Hundreds of people darted around him, people in the faux, brightly colored shirts that hung low at the hem and sleeves in a horrible mockery of a kimono, the sacred wear of Kusa clan. He grimaced as someone shoved past him, their kimono some sort of bright purple with _Celadon City_ scrawled over the back.

He refused to call them kimonos. They weren't. He almost bet that he'd next run into someone wearing a sacred cape from the Hebi clan. Champion Lance would roast them nice and toasty on one of his dragons.

But he shouldered his way through the crowd as best he could. Rhyhorn was pulled back almost instantly - even he, the scrawny little ten year old that he was, didn't have one part of him that wasn't constantly jostled by the crowd. Rhyhorn, who was nearly five feet long, wouldn't last half a second - and Scorch had scratched at his leg to recall her the second the dull roar of the tourists reached her ears. Gale was still somewhere overhead, but he could handle himself. The spearow would rip apart a pidgeot if he thought it was challenging him.

He shuffled his way forward. The only good part so far of a tourist destination was that the vastly more popular things, such as the department store, were readily pushed forward and accessible. Within ten minutes, he saw its gleaming silver walls rise above the earth. He never saw its doors close with the number of people going in and out.

Someone shouted over the crowd - next to the Celadon Department Store was the Celadon Market, famous for its berries. He didn't have any more sitrus berries but he'd buy manmade potions instead of relying on them this time. No, he was here for a different reason.

Clawing at some man's arm until he begrudgingly moved aside, Ash fought his way toward the open air market. Stalls lined every side, each drenched in brightly colored clothes and signs to attract attention. Fewer people were here - most came for the department store for all of the vastly cheaper options - but it was still enough he felt overwhelmed. Stopping for a second to catch his breath, Ash steadied himself before moving forward.

Each market saw his trademarked scuffed clothes and pokeballs and recognized him as a trainer. All of them shouted at him, their compliments of their products blurring together before they ever reached his ears. He shook himself and took a quick right to the first stall beside him, where five large berries were proudly displayed in front and several boxes behind. The woman immediately launched into a sales play.

In the end, he had what he was looking for and much more. His Trainer ID hissed at him, still full of all of the things he wanted to buy at the department store, but the berries in his bag would help him in the long run as well. Thanking the woman and sliding an extra five over as a tip, he scampered out of the market and into the relative safety of the Pokemon Center.

Even that was plugged high. Trainers were summoned by the siren call of the department store as much as tourists, and Ash was given a room on the third floor for the first time. He wasn't upset - it wasn't any different than any of the others, and it wasn't exactly like an extra flight of stairs compared to two months on the route.

Two months. He blinked, thinking back along the routes he had gone down. Though he wasn't completely sure, it had been nearly sixty days since he'd started his journey. He'd missed his one-month marker without even recognizing it, as well as his second. It was a bit upsetting.

But now wasn't the moment. Kicking the swivel chair to the corner of the room, he released Rhyhorn, Scorch, and Gale. His starter faithfully looked up at him, waiting patiently to know what was going on. Scorch scratched at the ground, sniffing curiously. She had been in Pokemon Centers before but her nose was beyond anything Rhyhorn or Gale had - there were probably years of scents in the carpet. Gale, of course, immediately took flight to the perch in the corner of the room, ruffling his feathers and shrieking.

"We're in Celadon, guys," he grinned. "That means gym battle."

Gale and Rhyhorn immediately perked up, Scorch flicking her tails and looking up at him. Liquid steel filled her eyes. He had explained what they were and there was nothing more than wanted than to prove her merit in a battle that truly meant something.

"Gale, Scorch, remember that this'll be your battle. I need you two to be in tiptop shape, so don't push yourself tonight or tomorrow. Get plenty of sleep - yes, I mean you, Gale." He fixed the bird with a glare but Gale just turned away, squawking rather proudly. "Today will be for strategies and a little something I've wanted to give you guys for a while - TMs. I think I can afford three, maybe four if they're cheap. It teaches you a new move automatically. So we don't have to worry about trying to learn your other moves immediately."

Rhyhorn rumbled, flexing his plates. Ash grinned and patted him behind the horn, an action that barely required him to bend over.

"But first, I want you two to rest. I want to do something with Rhyhorn first," he said, shooing Gale and Scorch off. The vulpine immediately went toward the corner opposite Gale, curling up into a tiny ball with her four tails settling over her muzzle. While Ash knew that Scorch could launch fireballs from her tails and control them psychically with no issues like an avenging angel of fire, it was hard to compare that to the tiny ball of fluff in the room. He settled for turning back to Rhyhorn and grabbing the bag of berries he had bought.

"Okay bud, I got you something to try." Sitting cross-legged in front of the ground type, he stuck an arm into the bag and felt around the vaguely spherical objects until he selected one at random and pulled it out.

A durin berry. He had only gotten one after the berry seller's warning, something about extreme bitterness. It was a pale green, slightly larger than his fist, covered in strange nubs that looked a bit like armor. He squeezed it lightly, then harder. Pretty firm.

Rhyhorn rumbled as he offered it, nosing at the berry in almost confusion. He leaned forward and took a bite. The effect was instantaneous - he immediately growled and turned around, though he didn't spit it out. Ash chuckled and set the berry aside. He'd kind of expected that.

"I promise, I got better berries. Here, try this one." A belue berry, crisp and blue with two protrusions on the top. He almost wanted to take a bite.

Rhyhorn barely touched the thing before it caved in on itself, the blue skin flopping as the insides squished. Ash sighed, gesturing for Rhyhorn to open his mouth before tossing it in. Well, she had said it was extremely soft. Rhyhorn seemed to enjoy the sourness better than the bitterness, at least.

Occa, watmel, and payapa berries were greeted with the same enthusiasm. Rhyhorn enjoyed the harder berries that he could actually chomp down on with his rocky shell and powerful teeth. He ate all three yache berries and was begging for more, but Ash had only bought three of each berry at a maximum. Ganlon berries were surprisingly enjoyable, and the smell made Ash want to try. Kee and maranga were the two Ash was going to force feed him even if Rhyhorn didn't like the flavours, though he didn't seem to mind them all too much. Charti, aguav, and bluk berries were a different story. Rhyhorn had speared the aguav on his horn when Ash teased him with a second, which left Ash roaring with laughter as the juices dribbled over his plates. His starter's surprisingly effective pleading had left him removing the berry and wiping away its remains, though.

Scorch woke up from her nap after a while and Ash had fed her the leftover berries. She was extremely fond of the spicy berries, but just like with her food, she devoured anything he put in front of her. But he noted down the spiciness for later. Gale had snagged one of the cheri berries he no doubt recognized from Route 1 but refused any of the others.

Ash must have spent nearly an hour throwing chunks of berries for Rhyhorn to catch, no doubt shaking the ceiling of whatever poor bugger was below him. Yache berries would be added to the eventual shopping list, as well as ganlon, cheri, and whatever properly spicy concoction he could find.

But now, it was time to fight his way to the department store. Berries would come later, maybe early in the morning when the tourists hadn't quite woken up yet. Recalling his team, he started toward the door.

xXx

Ash muttered an apology to the woman he had just elbowed before popping into the department store like a bullet seed. The first floor was basic necessities, like food, common clothes, and the like, and it was surprisingly empty. Most everyone went higher.

As he walked towards the stairs, not trusting the elevator with his life, he scanned the level breakdown. First was basics. Second was the gift shop - he would only go there if the world was ending. Third was kiosks, open shopping again. Fourth was basic trainer supplies, cheaper than the Pokemon Center. Fifth was _extra_ trainer supplies.

Grinning, he started up.

In only a short while, he stood in front of the fifth floor. It was wide and open, only a few walls to support the monster of a roof. Everything else was filled with equal amounts of shelves for the cheaper items and glass covered trays for the more expensive items. Ash, however, made a beeline for the line of five machines near the entrance. Four other trainers were there as well with around three dozen milling around the store that he could see just from the entrance, but it was infinity less than he was sure he'd find on the second floor.

With the push of a button, it powered to life. A search bar appeared, and he quickly typed in _rhyhorn_. In another second, a list of every TM Rhyhorn could learn appeared. He couldn't help the grin that spread over his face. While he knew it would be an incredible list, it seemed almost too good to be true.

Ice beam, flamethrower, thunder, rock tomb, stone edge, poison jab, rain dance… the list went on and on. He scrolled through over and over, eventually clicking up to open another tab and typing in spearow and vulpix.

Their lists were just as long, though he noticed Gale was a bit lacking in options. But it was now that he peeled his eyes away from the screen of infinite possibilities and looked at the reality of his budget.

With each being three thousand dollars, though a few were cheaper or more expensive depending on the move, he could afford three. If he had come later, followed the same path as everyone else, he might have been able to afford more, but not now. Sighing slightly, he turned back to the list with a harder eye.

Scorch needed moves not focused around sheer power. Gladion had suggested hex and fire spin, but she could learn both of those naturally. Though energy ball screamed his name to cover her major weakness, he knew she was already going to be learning hex, which would just make the burden of another element all the more difficult. After a while, he finally selected flame charge. It wasn't the most powerful of moves, but it'd give her a physical edge she just didn't have yet, while also being an extra extension of flash fire to use.

Gale was easier, actually. He was already working on - or attempting to - aerial ace and while fly looked promising, the extra thousand changed his vote to steel wing. It was insanely dangerous in the right hands - or wings - and would remove one of Gale's weaknesses. He bet the vicious little bird would enjoy it.

Rhyhorn was a physical beast but his control over his elements was improving. Rock blast was coming along and horn attack hadn't failed yet. Ash knew he'd be working on shock wave next and then, if he could manage it, icy wind, which meant there was no reason to buy either of the electric or ice moves. Flamethrower would be extremely useful, covering both grass and ice types, but rock polish also had numerous advantages.

In the end, he focused on Rhyhorn's weakness. Being a rock and ground type left him a lot of double weaknesses and any way to cover two at the same time would be brilliant. Closing the machine's window, he walked toward one of the shelves. Flamethrower was easily enough to find and flame charge was only a few feet away on the fire section, though he had to search a bit harder for steel wing. His search led him right across the track of a huddled bunch of tourists.

Curiosity peaked, he scooted forward to see what they were looking at. Nestled on a bed of silk cloth, safely protected behind three panels of glass and laser security, were three evolutionary stones. One gleamed like a violently scarlet sunset, one was pale and twisted, the color of hardened coral, and the third was a pale green lit from within by a topaz hue. Fire Stone, Water Stone, and Thunder Stone.

One of which would allow Scorch to evolve.

He left after another second. She wasn't ready and his budget wasn't ready to handle the five figures needed to buy those buggers.

The employee gave him a pale smile that had probably been used too many times today as they rang him up. He flicked his Trainer ID under the scanner, thanked them, and scampered out of the store.

xXx

The training grounds behind the Pokemon Center, rather thankfully, had been built with Celadon City's appeal in mind. Nearly half a dozen, all with room for multiple trainers, stretched out behind the glass-domed building. Ash patted himself on the back for finding an empty one and set up for his training.

He didn't release his pokemon first. Pulling out the complementary transferer, he removed the disks from their protective layer, moving carefully as to not fumble and drop them, and slipped them into the six available slots. Rhyhorn's pokeball went in first.

The disk hummed as it began spinning, releasing a torrent of knowledge into the twitching pokeball. His hands warmed up as the entire machine harnessed the power of fire, bright red flashes of light escaping over Rhyhorn's pokeball. It was a neat effect. Scorch's looked much the same, though her's faded faster before flashing green for complete. It didn't take nearly as much effort to teach a fire type how to use a fire move. Gale's was a little less exciting, though the flashing silver blended smoothly with the transferer. He didn't bother removing the disks when he was done. Some stores accepted used TM disks for a small compensation fee.

Rhyhorn rumbled as he was released, peering around and opening his mouth. Ash saw heat waver above his horn and wondered idly where it'd be released from. Scorch didn't seem too excited, though her tails flicked more enthusiastically than normal. Gale immediately took to the sky and would have tried out his new move if Ash hadn't glared at him.

"Rhyhorn, try flamethrower. Aim over there," he said, pointing away from his pokemon and any other trainers. His starter nodded and took a battle stance, spines sliding against each other. The heat picked up once again and Rhyhorn rumbled, opening his fanged mouth. With a flash, an explosion of heat burst into the air. It roared forward for a couple of feet before erupting in a sort of bang. Rhyhorn roared with satisfaction as the heat faded, the grass nearly fifteen feet away charred. Scorch churred at him, though Gale seemed annoyed at his rival's success.

The grin on his face couldn't be contained. "That'll show any grass or ice type, bud! Great job!" He didn't doubt the damage would be insane when that move connected.

Scorch went next. She didn't need a target but she wouldn't want to hit them. "Circle us with flame charge," he encouraged, pulled Rhyhorn a bit closer to give her a wider range to run in.

She yipped a confirmation and activated flash fire. It flared over her fur for a moment before the edges of the flames almost seemed to catch fire again, growing much brighter and trickling onto the ground. Speeding like she had just activated quick attack, Scorch took off and easily lapped them twice before Ash could even track her with his eyes. He laughed. She seemed to have no problem harnessing the speed boost the move could sometimes offer. If he could only find a way to add quick attack and combine the moves, she'd be unstoppable.

Gale shrieked irritably, ready for his move. Scorch peeled to a stop, releasing her ability, and welcomed Ash's thorough scratching behind her ears. The spearow flapped again, readying himself.

"Rhyhorn, pull up some rock blasts and drop them over there." Rhyhorn rumbled and concentrated, ripping up several chunks of rock and setting them carefully in a sort of pile a few feet away. His control was getting much better.

Ash didn't even open his mouth before Gale dropped into a dive. His whole body seemed to flash a fearsome silver as he fell, and it was only another second before he blinked out of sight and slammed into the rocks with a _crunch_. Dust billowed out.

Gale shrieked victoriously, hopping out of the pile of pebbles with his wings still shining a brilliant metallic hue. Not a single feather was out of place despite the hit that would have broken bones without the steel energy. Ash grinned and picked him up, placing him gently on his spearowry pad. Steel wing actually made him heavier.

He looked over his team, kicking the pebbles into the holes Rhyhorn had made. Someone else would clean up to mess later. "I think we're ready."

Rhyhorn roared in response.

xXx

Turns out, there was one more distraction before he went to fight Erika Kusa. As he made his way back into the Pokemon Center, a familiar faced greeted him relaxing on one of the couches. "Derrick?"

"Hm?" The boy looked up. "Ketchum, yeah? You wanna battle?"

He blinked but nodded, grinning. A warmup round before the gym battle tomorrow. Perfect, really. "Sure. Fields are in the back."

Derrick waited a second, stuffing his book back into his bag, before standing and following Ash back to the battlefields. Most of the trainers had started to turn in for the night, checking in with Nurse Joy for their pokemon or one last snack from the free meals in the back. It was cool outside, the sun still out but lessened in its power. The fierce mint scent never seemed like it would go away.

"So how'd you get to Celadon so fast?" Ash asked as they made their way around. "I thought you were going to Brock-Misty path."

"Skipped Misty and Sabrina," Derrick said. "Sandshrew wasn't ready to handle them and I don't have any advantages. My other three are still pretty weak. You'll see soon enough, anyway." His smile was bitter.

He nodded, though he didn't really understand. "Where's Leaf?"

"Left her somewhere near Cerulean. We weren't really traveling partners." After that, they reached the training fields with only four other trainers, which gave them a wide range of options. Derrick picked one closest to them. It had a few burn marks but other than that was pretty well kept. Ash marched to the opposite side of the field, hands resting on his pokemon.

It was perfect for one last battle before the challenge tomorrow. He tossed out Scorch's pokeball.

She emerged, yawning. The second she caught sight of the battlefield, she tensed up and turned to face Derrick, tails whipping over her head. Flash fire activated only a second later. His face was impassive as he tapped along his pokeballs.

"She's my newest capture," Ash offered. "I'm hoping this'll give her some more confidence. But she's going to be my winning prize against Erika."

Derrick's eyes flashed at that. With a smooth movement, he released his pokemon, a shorter brown bipedal thing with quills covering its back. Ash frowned.

Derrick had called out his starter against Ash's newest pokemon. The sandshrew squeaked over the battlefield, shuffling its silver claws against the ground and looking generally unthreatening. But Ash knew the little bugger showed some more strength than its outer appearance showed.

This might not be the confidence boost Scorch needed. But he'd fight anyway. They were cave dwellers - its eyes were probably weak. "Light show, then ember. Heat wave after that."

With a roar, Scorch flung her tails over her head and ignited a fire on each tip. The flash was enough to have Ash blinking away spots. Sandshrew was far from better, squeaking furiously as it lashed out blindly with its claws. Scorch blurred backward with quick attack and launched four neat fireballs from her tails. They exploded against Sandshrew's side, pushing it down on its side.

She seized her advantage, rushing forward and releasing a rippling aura of heat from her tails that slammed onto the ground type. Yipping warmly, she rushed back to Ash's side at his command and waited.

Sandshrew whined, but its ground typing prevented too much damage. Rising back to its feet, it chittered at its trainer. Ash narrowed his eyes.

"Magnitude." Derrick had one corner of his mouth twitched up. His pokemon squeaked back before leaping into the air, energy dripping from its paws.

"Jump!" Ash shouted, but Sandshrew had clearly mastered the move. By the time Scorch's paws had cleared an inch above the ground, the earth trembled and snapped upward, slamming her sky high, writing and twisting in pain. She yelped as she hit, her paws bruising almost immediately.

Sandshrew wrenched a chunk of dirt up from the ground, shifting it into mud almost immediately. Scorch's self-preservation instincts kicked in far before her sense of reason and she booked it almost off the field in her effort to get away. "Focus," Ash said softly. She jerked toward his voice, ears twitching wildly. "Ember and will-o-wisp. Aim for its head."

Scorch flicked her tails, releasing the four fireballs she needed. Swirling them around her head, she launched them even as Derrick shouted his command. Sandshrew dodged two and was hit by the others, but it shrugged them off and started its move.

Though she had already begun to summon will-o-wisp, the second Scorch saw the beginning of mud slap she released the bluish flames and bolted.

Ash closed his eyes. She had been hit too badly and her wild instincts were coming forward. He could try and control her but he rather doubted it would work. Holding up her pokeball, he recalled her before the mud slap could come anywhere close to her fleeing form. "I recall vulpix," he called. "You win this round."

Derrick's grin was wide. "Thanks for that," he said, holding up his pokeball. Before Ash could even ask for a two v two battle, he had recalled his pokemon and crossed the field, hand extended for his money. Ash gave him the standard fee and Derrick immediately headed back into the Pokemon Center.

Ash narrowed his eyes. His teeth grit themselves, grinding inside his skull, but he just released his frustration in a growl and turned away. It had been a low blow, but Derrick wasn't Leaf. He had forgotten about that in sight of a familiar face. Next time Derrick would release first.

Speaking of. He watched the scarlet energy form into Scorch, who immediately tensed and glanced around, ears pinned and tails thrashing. Ash waited for a second to make sure she wouldn't active flash fire before stroking her behind the ears, slowly relaxing her tense muscles until she whined and curled up in his lap.

"I'm sorry, girl. He used his strongest pokemon against you. I should have fought better. This wasn't your fault."

She yipped at him, but it wasn't full of her regular fire. He dug through his bag and pulled out his brush, focusing on her tails first while still stroking behind her ears. Though his arms burned by the end, it was all worth calming down the anxious little fire type.

xXx

Ash looked up at the Celadon Gym, which was surprisingly empty despite the flow of tourists and trainers behind him. It made some sort of sense - most tourists didn't fight in gyms and it was early enough in the morning most other trainers would be preparing for the fight instead of getting right to it.

The outside was nice enough. Red brick with swirling green letters painted directly onto the walls. While he couldn't even begin to understand them, he did recognize them - Kusa clan symbols, their hidden language they passed down generation from generation.

If the rumors were true, Erika took her Kusa heritage _very_ seriously. Those symbols, which meant everything from protection sigils to honoring the pokemon gods, could be found on every wall of the gym and most everything she owned. Her kimonos were far from the cheap swaths of fabric gift shops sold, handmade and of the highest quality ariados silk. She honored full, half, and new moons and the perfumes she made were blessed by her ancient spirits. Celadon City had risen to greatest under her calm brilliance.

That was not to say her practices got in the way of her gym. While it was indeed true she took far more care to protect the pokemon of the trainers that challenged her, her own pokemon were excently trained and as smart as a whip. Her parasect, normally universally recognized as a useless pokemon, had stopped many challengers in their tracks.

He pushed on the door and walked inside. The smell quickly upgraded itself, the mint almost overpowering and joined with something far sweeter. Though Erika was paid by the League, her side business of perfumes had made her sweet coin with their popularity.

But the inside, once he got over the smell, was pleasant. The lights on each side were so similar to sunlight that he almost thought he was outside, though he knew they were greenhouse lights. Wooden floors with etched symbols lined up the walls as well, and the roof was arched in the traditional manner. A receptionist nodded to him as he entered, eyes flicking to his pokeballs.

"Welcome! Are you here for a gym battle?" At his nod, she continued, sliding a lock of brown hair behind her ear. "Well, Erika is out in the field now, as your luck would have it. She might be doing something so give her a moment to get ready."

Accepting her directions, he thanked her and went toward the direction that she had pointed him. The smell grew stronger, though not by much, and once he found the door that led onto the battlefield it was like walking in a cloud of flower petals. As soon as his nose adjusted, he wondered whether his mother would ever leave this place.

It was very different than Sabrina's or Surge's. Instead of being an empty field of dirt, it was an actual functioning greenhouse, plants of every size and shape lining the walls and ground. Berry trees towered above most but he spotted the offending mint placed evenly along the ground as well.

He saw the gym leader quickly. She was in the middle, surrounded by a few types, namely a chikorita, tangela, and gloom. Her kimono was expertly tied off with a wide red ribbon, contrasting neatly with the pale green and emerald embroidery. A bowl of something steaming - tea, if he knew the Kusa rituals properly - sat between her legs, but she wasn't drinking it. Instead, she held her hands, palm up, in front of her, eyes closed and dark hair tied back in the traditional wear.

Impossibly, the steam from the tea seemed to move in the air, twitching like a heartbeat and ignoring natural laws as it twined around the pokemon near her. Her chest rose smoothly and the steam matched it, he realized.

His foot brushed a leaf. Immediately, the steam began to rise normally, fading out in midair. Erika opened pale green eyes, almost matching her kimono, and met his gaze without an ounce of hesitation. Her pokemon peered at him as well, but they seemed almost sleepy. "Hello."

"Hi," he offered, stepping forward. She unfolded smoothly and stood, palms meeting in a half bow. The chikorita to her right extended two of its vines and picked up the tea bowl, careful not to spill a drop, and carried it away.

"My name is Erika Kusa, and I am the leader of this gym. I assume you are here for a challenge?" At his nod, she continued. "And you are?"

"I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, and I have two badges."

Her eyes glittered with interest. "Brock and Misty's, I assume."

"No." He shook his head, a grin spreading over his face. "Surge and Sabrina's. I went through the Diglett Cave."

"How interesting. Would you prefer a two v two or a three v three?" She reached into the folds of her kimono, retrieving three pokeballs that was spun through her fingers effortlessly. Erika was a very calm person, but there was no denying the strength she had to bring the gym to one of the highest in Kanto.

"Two v two." While he wanted a challenge, Rhyhorn wasn't quite ready yet to win him the badge. Maybe if he could just fight without a challenge, but he wanted the badge right now. A regular fight would come later.

She nodded in acceptance. "The field is this way. Follow me, please."

The tangela, which should be only a newborn for its size, bobbed cheerfully at her heels, but by some invisible signal, turned and headed back into the underbrush of the greenhouse. The gloom, however, stayed firmly by her side as she strood confidently through the grass, her bare feet barely even rustling a leaf. Ash felt like a lumbering tauros in comparison, even though he did his best to crumple as few leaves and branches as he could.

It took him a moment, but he eventually made out the protective barriers that stopped every battle from torching the entire greenhouse. The battlefield had grass and a few weeds growing on it, but Ash knew that there were several moves grass types had that could almost instantly grow plants. Though he looked around, he didn't notice a referee. Maybe the majority of gym leaders didn't use them? This was the second time.

"Challenger, this is a two on two. I will release first." With a look to her side, the gloom marched onto the field almost like a soldier, bright red petals bouncing and thin eyes narrowed. Ash narrowed his eyes. Gloom, while powerful in the right hands, needed several moves to be brought to their full potential. He didn't doubt that Erika had souped them up to the right power level.

Scorch appeared on the field, curling her tails luxuriously above her head. Ash noticed her tense at the sight of the enemy pokemon but knew that she'd take this battle seriously. Last night had been an anomaly. She was more powerful than that.

"Begin," Erika said, her gentle voice carrying over the field.

"Howl, then ember," he said, sticking to a familiar strategy. Gloom didn't have the best ears or eyes so it probably wouldn't be as distracted as other pokemon.

Scorch gave it her all. The screech she released made his bones vibrate and Gloom squeaked at the sound, twitching its petals and reaching up to cover its ears. As soon as it had started moving, Scorch cut the move and launched her fireballs, flash fire activating smoothly the second before they erupted from her tails. Gloom's eyes snapped onto the flames the second they were launched but was only able to dodge the last one, the fire catching alight on its top petals. It chittered annoyedly but barely seemed distracted by the pain, shaking loose some powder to put out the flames and ignoring the burns criss crossing over its top.

"Grassy terrain, acid, mega drain, then energy ball if you need to." Erika stood seemingly without effort, palms firm against her sides and black hair brushed back. Gloom squeaked, easily accepting the plan it seemed to have used many more times before. Closing its eyes, it stretched its stubby hands above its head.

"Will-o-wisp," he called, frowning. The combo sounded deadly.

Scorch shivered her longest tail, the blue energy creeping from the top and onto the battlefield. It bobbed forward, hissing and crackling, its ghostly energies spreading over the field as an almost hypnosis.

Gloom paused in its movements, still twitching its stubby fingers, as the bluish flames hovered closer. Ash could see the moment when the trance hit, Gloom's eyes going flat with desire.

Erika quickly put a stop to that. "Grassy terrain," she repeated, voice soft but hard.

Gloom's eyes flashed back to concentrated and it turned away from the orb, making a high chirping sound before it slammed its green arms into the ground.

Ash could _feel_ the energy spread through the earth, a shockwave of power rebounding into the air stained with grass type energy. Immediately, the grass already present seemed to shoot several inches up, weeds sprouting flowers and new leaves as if summer had been condensed in a mere second. Grassy terrain wasn't a move he had faced before but he doubted he'd forget the strange energy creeping through the room.

Scorch guided the will-o-wisp in one last burst forward, peppering Gloom's face in darkened burns. It jumped backward, avoiding the worst and ignoring the rest, and leaned forward, aiming its petals toward Scorch. Ash remembered the second command. "Get ready to dodge."

The acid was thick and purple, overpowering the minty sweetness of the room with a stench like rotting corpses. Scorch blurred out of the way with quick attack, flash fire charring the overgrown grass beneath her. Gloom merely turned to follow her, firing impossible amounts of violet sludge that immediately killed the grass beneath it.

It was rapidly cutting down the areas of the battlefield that Scorch could safely go on. The acid stayed strong over the ground, hissing like a living thing even as the vulpine blurred around the spots. He had to end this.

"Flame charge," Ash called. He narrowed his eyes as Scorch stayed in quick attack, dodging furiously. She wouldn't let herself be hit.

Gloom fired off another wave of acid before extending its hands again, readying its next move. Scorch dodged the last of the acid, fading out of quick attack and turning to find Gloom. It hissed with surprising aggression and fired the mega drain as a beam of solid green energy. Scorch immediately fell back into quick attack.

Ash closed his eyes and cursed. She would exhaust herself trying to dodge everything. "Focus, girl," he said as soothingly as she could. Gloom dropped the mega drain and she turned to him, ears flicking wildly. "You're going to have to take some hits. I have potions and berries and access to Nurse Joy, Scorch. You aren't in the wild anymore. A hit doesn't mean the end."

She stared up at him, tails twitching. Her eyes slowly slid to Gloom, which had aimed its petals at her once again, a ball of green energy forming in its core. With the power up from grassy terrain, the move would hurt, but it wouldn't end the match. "Flame charge! All in!"

Scorch barked and sprang forward. Flash fire ignited again, crackling against her fur just as Gloom launched the energy ball.

It slammed into her chest and Ash could hear the whine of pain above the burn of her movements. But she kept going and slammed into the grass and poison type with a body full of fire. "Atta girl!" He cheered.

This move it couldn't brush off. It squeaked and fell on its side, arms twisting. Scorch made to run away but Ash shook his head and said, "Heatwave, close range." She yipped and aimed her tails forward, releasing the shockwave of heat that killed most of the grass around her in a vicious circle. Gloom squeaked again, but the mega drain it had hidden in its petals connected solidly and flipped Scorch back.

She yelped and struggled to her feet, but it was clear to see the move was strong. Her energy sapped faster than her fire burned and it was going to knock her out sooner or later.

"Ember. Give it everything you've got."

Scorch, barking furiously through the pain, raised her four tails and launched a blinding array of fireballs. They slammed into Gloom's side, cutting out its mega drain and knocking it out past all of the energy it had just gained.

Erika immediately recalled it, a small smile on her face. "To you." Without any fanfare, she released her next pokemon, an averagely sized weepinbell. It immediately perked up as the grassy terrain flowed through it, energizing the grass type.

Ash frowned as he considered it. It was fresh and boosted, and that meant he had to end this quickly. Holding up his pokeball, he recalled Scorch, letting the fire type relax before he healed her up in the center. If he needed her, she would be a last resort to take Erika out.

Judging by how Gale shrieked victoriously when he was released before he'd even won the battle, Ash rather doubted he'd need it.

Erika's eyes narrowed imperceptibly at the sight of the obviously aggressive spearow, but she didn't comment. She did, however, take the first move. "Razor leaf. Vine whip it down when it takes to the skies."

"Pin it. Peck." He had his own counter to her strategy and, if the glint in Gale's eyes said anything, it wouldn't be a very long battle.

Weepinbell shuddered and released long, jagged leaves from beneath its vines, looking almost maple in appearance. The moment they took to the air toward Gale, he released the razor wind he had been preparing and slammed them down. Weepinbell wasn't prepared and lost the battle with the wind, leaving the leaves to flutter around until they fell completely to the ground.

The wind slammed into the grass and poison type, knocking it back flat. With a gurgle, it extended its two vines, but by then, Gale had fallen into his dive, beak shining. His near eight pounds slammed into the plant like a sledgehammer.

It took the opportunity, even as its thick skin was ripped apart under Gale's beak, to extend its vines and wrapped them around Gale's wings. The spearow squawked in a fury, temporarily stopped his assault, and Weepinbell jerked its vines to hurtle Gale across the room. In a shriek of anger, he activated steel wing, jerking them through the vines to sever them cleanly. Weepinbell gurgled in pain, twitching the ends of its vines like headless ekans. Gale righted himself in midair and dove, beak shining.

Weepinbell didn't have the incredible restorative powers of tangela, and it was useless with the pain of its severed vines. Gale shrieked and promptly put it out of its misery by a furious peck to the side.

Erika's eyes tightened. After the furious battle with Scorch and her gloom, she must have expected it to be at least somewhat closer. But she accepted her loss with a fair amount of grace, walking smoothly over the field after recalling her pokemon and extending a flashing badge to him.

"The Rainbow Badge. It is a symbol of honor to have beaten me." A smile graced her lips. "Return, once you are stronger. It will be a most entertaining fight, I think." Ash thanked her, recalling Gale with a shriek of victory. The badge was small, shaped like a flower with multicolored petals. He could see a tiny Kusa symbol etched where the center of the flower was, though he hadn't the foggiest as to what it could mean. Maybe it was an insult.

But his third badge. He grinned and closed his fist over it.

Erika turned to walk away, but he managed to catch her attention. She pivoted to stare calmly at him, one eyebrow raised. Ash almost felt jealous. She was the perfect picture of collected.

"Can I challenge you tomorrow?" At her confused expression, he hurriedly continued. "Not for a badge, but my starter is a rhyhorn, and I wasn't able to use him to fight in this match. I'd like to see how he does against a grass type, but I didn't want to use this as a training match and potentially not get the badge."

Erika raised her eyebrow again, a slight smile on her face. "A worthy idea. I believe I have a match scheduled for tomorrow, but if you would like to come after, I should be able to test your rhyhorn. I will see you then."

He grinned and thanked her. She merely smiled and nodded her agreement, turning to walk back into the greenhouse, presumably to heal her pokemon. Ash looked down at the Rainbow Badge nestled in his palm.

Slowly but surely, he was rising. Now the question was how long it would take him to reach the top.

xXx

Scorch was getting checked out by Nurse Joy, though he doubted she'd be in there for much longer. Grass moves, especially energy ones, couldn't last long against the vulpine's natural body heat, and the effects would often be minimal and quick to leave. Gale had barely been touched, though the vine had ripped out a few of his primaries. He'd grow them back in a couple of days.

But this was Ash's third badge, a sort of milestone. While four badges would be halfway through and therefore worth more celebration, he was still incredibly happy to have gotten this far in only two months.

He deserved some sort of celebration. What better than exploring the city that attracted more tourists in a day than Pallet Town would see in a year? While he'd spend the rest of today with his team, tomorrow would be all about Celadon City and the sights it had to offer. He doubted the match would Erika would take very long - a one v one without all of the gym challenge talk. Ash guessed he'd be in and out in half an hour.

The videophones in the back of the Pokemon Center had had the longest lines he'd ever had to deal with before, but the talk with his mother was all worth it. She gushed over his three badges and promised him a cake the size of a snorlax on his birthday. He had whined about it being in nearly seventh months, but she had already wrung a promise out of him to go back to the house for his birthday.

By the time he was done, Nurse Joy had finished up with Scorch. He quickly went to collect the fire type, thanking Nurse Joy profusely and speeding back up to his room. Closing the door, he dropped his bag on the desk and placed his spearowry pad next to it. The next second, he released all of his pokemon and sat down next to them. Rhyhorn immediately lumbered forward to be next to him, pushing his plates against Ash's side until the boy begrudgingly scooted over to give him enough room to flop down on his stomach. He scratched him behind the horn, grinning.

"Alright guys, look what we got." With a smile, he held up the Rainbow Badge, glittering in the light. It was greeted by pleased yips and squawks, though Rhyhorn settled for a quiet rumble.

"Tomorrow, I'll be exploring the town a bit, but I've also scored another fight with Erika." Rhyhorn rumbled, tilting his head to the side, and Ash flicked his horn. "You didn't get to fight today bud, but I asked for a regular fight between you and one of her grass types. It'll be a great test to see how well you can stand up to a double weakness." He roared excitedly, butting his head against Ash's ribs as thanks.

"Tonight, though, Gale and Rhyhorn take the night off. No training. Scorch, I want to work on something with you, okay?" She yipped, though her head was tilted to the side.

Rhyhorn leaned into him one more time before standing up, making his way over to a corner and flopping down again. He was asleep quickly. Gale took a moment longer, flapping around the room a few times before settling on the perch and tucking his head beneath his wing. They both didn't look like they'd destroy the room, so he pawed through his wallet for a moment before grabbing a ten. His bag was slipped over his shoulders. Scorch yipped as he gestured her to follow him out of the room, staying close to his side.

Pokemon below thirty pounds were allowed out in the Pokemon Center, as long as they didn't start fights or weren't aggressive. While Scorch was prideful, he doubted she'd pick a fight with him right there.

Nurse Joy looked up as he walked over to her, placing the ten on the counter. "I'd like to rent a large tub for a couple of hours, please," he requested.

She nodded, taking the ten and sliding it under the desk. Reemerging with a thin keycard, she pointed toward a door in the back. "Should be on the left side, the right is training ground and the key card won't work on them. I believe two others are being used - the doors won't open if they are."

"Thanks." He led Scorch toward the door, flashing the keycard to get in. The first was locked but the second flashed green and opened, allowing him into the room.

It was about the size of his room, though without any furniture. Most of the room was dominated by a hot tub sized bathtub, currently empty with several buttons on the side of the room.

Scorch hissed at it, eyes flat and tails flicking. He patted her head and kneeled in front of her, locking eyes.

"You're strong, Scorch, and I know you're not used to taking hits. So I'd like to help lower the pain when it happens to better help you. So tonight, we're going swimming to help your endurance for hits."

She immediately barked at him, flattening her ears and shaking her head. He tried a different approach. "If you can get yourself used to taking hits, you won't have to worry about them so much when you're actually hit on the battlefield.

It still took him another five minutes of conjolling before she hesitantly agreed to try it. He marked it down as a win and stood up, walking over to the control panel on the wall. It had a list of ranges suggested for different pokemon, and he clicked the warmer end of the range to compensate for it being a fire type.

Immediately, water began to spill into the tub from hidden faucets. Scorch flinched back, ears flattening, but Ash knelt down and stroked her until she calmed again.

Digging through his bag, he pulled out his swimming trunks. He had gotten them nearly two years ago and they were covered in tiny poliwag, still a bit embarrassing. Changing quickly, he waited until the tub was full enough that the faucets shut off automatically before starting to clamber in.

It was a lot hotter than he expected, but, realizing that wincing when he climbed into the water that Scorch was already afraid of probably wasn't the best idea, he managed to hide it as he got inside. There was a rim on the inside that made the water only come up to his waist when he stood on it, though he knew the center of the tub was around five feet.

"Come on, Scorch," he said softly, feeling around the edge of the tub until he found what he was looking for. There was a taller lip on one side that only had a foot of water above it, perfect for the two feet tall vulpix.

She hesitantly walked closer, sniffing constantly with her tails perfectly curled over her back in a battle position. Vulpix never took baths in the wild, instead rolling around in dirt and burning the excess off via their other packmates.

Ash held his arms out and she curled up in his grasp. His fingers were wet from testing the water and he made sure to hold them away from her as he slowly supported her over the bath. She winced as the first of the water touched her paw, and he stopped moving her to get her used to the feeling.

It took nearly ten minutes to get her fully standing in the water. Her ears had been pinned back the entire time but now they were perking up as she got used to the wet.

What made vulpix and most other fire types so vulnerable to water was the cut off to their fire powers as well as the temperature change. Strangely enough, ice types were actually less efficient against them, though that was rumored to be because ice didn't cut off access to their inner flame. While cold could lower the flames potential, it could snuff it off. But water not only gave them a shock from the cold, it also doused their flames and prevented them from using their inner flame to warm themselves back could be a dangerous combination any way you looked at it.

But now, Scorch was in warm water, as well as put in slowly enough that she could adjust to the water. While she couldn't use any fire attacks right now, her body temperature wasn't being lowered. That was why the water move scald, famous for having boiling water, did noticeably less damage to fire types.

Scorch stayed perched on the lip, still inspecting the water, and Ash took the moment to fully submerge himself in the water. The heat was biting but after a moment of having his head under the water, he was able to adjust. He swam around a bit, carefully avoiding where Scorch was, before popping back up and shaking his head dry.

He heard a yelp.

Some of the water from his hair had hit Scorch across the face. She blinked, reddish brown fur darker, before yipping. Bringing one of her tails forward, she snapped it through the water and splashed Ash right back.

After he realized that his _fire type_ had just attacked him in the water, his grin nearly threatened to split his face. "Oh, it is _on_ ," he said, flicking the water. More water splashed against her face. She yipped again in surprise and used all four tails to fling water at him. He was soaked in a second.

Laughing, he dove right back in.

They played together for nearly an hour. Their impromptu splash fight didn't last too long, and Ash held himself back noticeably, but Scorch soon grew more and more comfortable. She watched Ash swim forward and acted it out until Ash understood what she wanted. Keep both arms under her chest to support her, he taught her the basics of doggy paddle until she was flopping ungracefully around the edge of the pool.

The Pokemon Center was nice enough to supply free-use towels. He spent five minutes getting as much off as he could, and she torched the rest with flash fire. Then he brushed her as the tub drained, not that she really needed it.

Nurse Joy's night assistant accepting the keycard back and he went back up to his room, keeping Scorch by his side. Rhyhorn and Gale were still sleeping, though Rhyhorn had somehow managed to flip over entirely in his sleep. Ash changed into sleeping clothes quickly, laying out his trunks to dry on the shower rack.

Ash yawned, stretching out on the bed that felt like it was going to swallow him up with its fluffiness. It had been almost forever since he had last swam, and today had exhausted muscles he had forgotten existed. He closed his eyes to sleep, only to open them up the next second.

Small paws pressed against his leg, warm to the touch. He watched as Scorch carefully hopped up on the bed, tails flicking. She was only about twenty pounds, but the bed still shifted toward her as she padded closer to him.

Her dark eyes flicked up cautiously to meet him, but when he didn't make a move to stop her, she walked a few more feet forward until she was standing on his chest. She laid down quickly, bringing her tails around to lay over her nose, a tiny ball of fluff.

It was a bit like having an electric blanket on his chest. She constantly gave out heat even without her flash fire ability being activated and he doubted he'd need a blanket tonight, not that he'd put one on and disturb her anyway.

He raised his hand and stroked her behind her ears and, after a moment, she leaned into his touch. Ash smiled softly at his friend and leaned his head back, closing his eyes. Rhyhorn's rumbling snores, Gale's comforting presence, and Scorch's warmth soothed him to sleep far faster than anything else so far.

xXx

Ash, while waiting in the greenhouse for Erika to finish, saw Derrick leave.

The boy's snarl was tightly affixed to his face, and Ash guessed that his challenge hadn't been successful. He didn't even notice Ash standing in the corner, stalking out of the room with bone straight shoulders and hands tightly gripping his pokeballs.

There was another second before Erika appeared around the corner, eyes locking onto his. He hadn't announced his arrival yet she knew where he was anyway. "Come. Are you ready?"

He grinned and trotted after her. Her almost floral kimono was done in pinks and green, tied back with a blue ribbon, but he couldn't help but noticed her hair was frazzled and barely contained by her tradition hairpiece.

"I'm afraid I was summoned to catch a herd of oddish found near Route 7. There is no previous recollection of their existence and I was not prepared for them," she offered, walking smoothly to her side of the battlefield.

"My pokemon here is relatively new to my team. She has proven her worth but is not yet at the level for one of my higher teams, so she is just as ready for battle to prove herself as you. I hope your rhyhorn can put up a fight."

Ash grinned. "Oh, he will."

Rhyhorn bellowed when he was released, twitching his spines and getting down into a battle position. The ground quivered beneath his touch, barely contained by the psychic barriers.

Erika smiled and released his opponent. It was a slim pokemon, similarly shaped to Scorch while a foot taller. It was a pale tan over its body, with green leaf-like protrusions over its body. Its tail twisted through the air like a fan, the same color as the grass around it. The leafeon locked onto Rhyhorn, brown eyes alight with determination. A new scent filled the air as she entered, something like fresh leaves, or spring. It was overall rather pleasant.

She opened her mouth to give the first command but Ash got there first. "Horn attack."

Rhyhorn roared, charging. His increased bulk carried him quickly, lumbering forward. Leafeon waited patiently, twitching her tail. At the last second, she darted to the side, throwing her tail over her back and releasing a wave of razor leaves.

Most didn't miss Rhyhorn's bulk. He roared, the leaves cutting right through his plates, though the true strength of the pain hadn't made it past his nerves yet. Shaking his head, he turned to try and track Leafeon, but she danced around and made it difficult.

"Stomp and fury attack," Ash whispered. "Get it grounded."

Rhyhorn rumbled, the sound like an avalanche, before taking off again. Leafeon chirped in a decidingly mocking manner before disappearing like a flash, appearing behind Rhyhorn without a lot of effort. She had obviously mastered quick attack.

"Change of plans, bud. Smack down." He didn't try to lower his voice. Rhyhorn was too far away to hear without him being loud.

The dirt ripped itself from the ground, flying much higher than normal with Rhyhorn's new increased abilities. It flung itself at Leafeon, who blurred away trying to dodge. She managed to avoid most of it but a large clod of dirt struck her across the chest and knocked her off course and onto her side.

Ash seized the chance. "Horn attack!"

Rhyhorn charged forward, horn lowered, and managed to nick her across the tail as she picked herself up. She cried out in pain, blurring away, before reappearing with a dangerous look on her face.

"Sunny day and solar beam," Erika said softly, a smile on her face. "Be quick about it."

Ash grinned at the first command and paled at the second. If that connected, there was no doubt - it would knock Rhyhorn out cleanly, even without his previous injuries. "This is going to hurt, bud," he warned. "Flamethrower! Burn it all!"

Leafeon chirped, raising its tail. The notch of its tail lined up with the sun and Ash immediately started to sweat. Heat beamed down like a tsunami and the sunlight took a much harsher edge - already he felt sticky.

Rhyhorn opened his mouth and the heat increased even more. Ash was greeted to a startled Erika's face just before an inferno of flames hit the field.

Ash had only seen flamethrower a few times before, but never under the influence of sunny day. The fire that exploded out of his friend's mouth flung itself endlessly into the air, dancing around and torching the few surviving weeds beneath it.

Rhyhorn bellowed in pain as the fire rebounded off of the psychic barriers and hit him, turning his plates black and slowly eroding them away. But he kept it going until there was a flash of scarlet light as Erika recalled her pokemon, a smile on her lips.

Ash recalled his starter the next second. He looked up as Erika walked around the battlefield toward him, still smiling.

"You did well, Ash. I was not expecting that flamethrower," she admitted a bit wryly. "My leafeon needed a pride check and I am happy you were the one to do it. It seems you would have been fine on a three v three yesterday."

His cheeks colored. "Thanks," he said lamely.

"I do not have a badge for you to win, but perhaps you would like this instead," she said, holding out something in her fist. He held out his hands and she dropped a vial into them, warm to the touch. "Your spearow is powerful, yes, but it does not take hits well. I would suggest giving it this to hopefully increase its defense."

Ash read the small slip on the side of the package and his grin lit up. A month's supply of iron, perfect for increasing bone density, something almost all bird pokemon had a lack of. That would definitely help.

He thanked Erika, which she accepted with a slight smile. She gathered her grass types by her side and once again disappeared into the greenhouse, barely rustling a leaf on her way. Ash smiled again and turned to leave.

That had been well worth it.

xXx

Rhyhorn had been injured, but most of it was superficial. The razor leaf wounds were going to be tender for a few days and his plates would take a day or two to regrow the parts the fire had eroded away, but he was fine for today. Nurse Joy had only given him a light checkup before releasing him back into Ash's care.

Now though, it was time to explore the city.

There were a few sights that were thought to be incredibly important for every passing trainer to see. The department store, of course, but also the Game Corner, the Day Care, and the Celadon Mansion. Judging by what he read online, the Game Corner would be best saved for last, just by the sheer amount of money it could wring out of you. Ash didn't want that to happen, but it was still better to be safe than sorry.

He picked a random location and ended up with the Day Care. Fixing his hat tighter over his hair, he started to struggle through the crowds toward the edge of Celadon, the harsh sunlight glaring down over the city like a baleful eye.

Unsurprisingly, the number of tourists thinned as he left the flashing neon signs of downtown and entered the actual streets of the city. A few stores attracted his attention, especially something that advertised incredible pokemon from Kalos in a sort of pokemon show, but he had a plan that he was going to follow. There wasn't any point in being swept up in every little thing he came across - he'd never leave if he did.

The good thing was that he could release Rhyhorn. The ground type rumbled warmly up at him, paws thumping into the ground and sending vibrations through the earth. Seeing Derrick's sandshrew only inspired him more to teach Rhyhorn some moves of his other typing.

He found it rather quickly. It was a smaller building, simple wooden walls and numerous flower beds lining the front. Two oddish ran around in front, seemingly caring for the plants despite having no arms. A sign over top of the wide door proclaimed the Day Care was within, and it was currently open. It made sense, given that it was nearly noon.

Ash pushed open the door and walked inside, peering around. It was a wide welcoming room, armed with a desk and several more potted plants. Well, Celadon was the City of Leaves, though going from Saffron's gleaming silver to the green splashed on nearly every wall was some kind of whiplash.

A man was standing behind the desk, focused on something hidden behind the wooden planks. He jerked as a bell on the door gave away Ash's entrance, turning quickly to stare the newcomer in the face. Ash smiled a bit nervously and waved - the man's eyes were a brilliant blue and very sharp.

He was wearing some sort of almost safari-looking gear, dull green with various pockets and belts stamped across every side. Four pokeballs trailed along his waist, as well as a bag of what Ash could only guess was pokemon treats.

"Welcome to the Day Care! What can I do for you?" His voice was chipper.

"I'm just exploring," Ash answered, looking around the room once more. "What do you do here?"

The man shrugged. "We take care of pokemon. Mostly, its domestic owners who have to go out for work, but occasionally we get some harder challenges. We promote a lot of pokemon interactions and can help overly feral or pokemon needing rehabilitation to regain social skills and proper reactions. We've even trained a few fossil pokemon," he added proudly. "Trainers don't normally use us too much unless they want an egg, which is a trial and a half to get, let me tell you. My name's Kio, by the way. Kio Kiumi."

"I'm Ash. Nice to meet you." His eyes lit upon a window in the back that showed a view to the wide fields in the back of the Day Care. "How many pokemon do you have right now?"

Kio tilted his head to the side. "Well, my sister's in the back with 'em right now. I think we've got two pidgeot, a couple growlithe from Officer Jenny, a meowth, two persian, one wicked little shinx, and a couple others." He scratched the back of his head. "I wasn't there when they were dropped off, so I'm afraid I don't know enough. All of them are regulars, though."

Ash didn't quite know what to say. Kio seemed to latch onto that, a grin splitting his face. Making some sort of chirp sound, he turned back to his desk and prodded something beneath it. Another chirp answered him, and an espeon stepped out from beneath the wooden surface.

It was obviously at its prime. Luxuriously pink fur brushed back smoothly, the scarlet gem on its forehead gleaming like the sun with casual psychic powers. The fork in its tail was a perfect three inches down.

Kio grinned wider at Ash's clear awe. "This here's E. She's a real treat, and my most powerful pokemon, even above my starter. She helps me control all the pokemon we get here."

At Kio's confirmation, Ash knelt and extended a hand. E sniffed it, breath warm, before churring in apparent agreement and turning her head to the side. He ran his fingers over her neck, feeling the obvious muscles beneath the fur. This was a pokemon he knew he would have to work hard to defeat.

But as he was petting her, he noticed something strange. Near her flank, the fur was lumpy, hiding something beneath the surface. Ash frowned, stroking over the area. E yipped and moved back, shaking her head. He looked up at Kio, whose eyes were sad.

"I didn't just find an eevee in the wild, kid. I traveled for a few months before joining Officer Jenny's task force, helping the pokemon side mostly. One day, I received an anonymous call that there was a farm in Viridian."

Ash blinked, but Kio continued quickly. "Not a crop farm, but a mill. An illegal breeding facility that raises rare and profitable pokemon for sale on the black market. But this one was much more careful - they actually sold over completely legal terms, advertising themselves as buying the pokemon out of region so no one would think they were barely giving those animals enough room to turn around."

"That's where I got this little lady," Kio said, stroking her behind the ears. "She was there. They branded her 'cause they were going to keep her there as a breeder. Show him, please?"

E did an impressive job of rolling her eyes before the gem on her forehead bloomed into light. The fur on her flank moved back, exposing white lines raised like welts over her skin. It was a strange boxy spiral, about the size of his palm. Even years later - he guessed - it was still clearly visible. He couldn't even imagine how painful it must have been.

"She hated everyone. I left the task force about a month after that and came here, and there she was. No one had made any progress with the princess. Guess she must have seen something in these bones, because she joined me and evolved a year or so later." E churred up at him, the same small chirp that Kio imitated back.

"That's incredible," Ash said, the smile on his face warm and blinding. He had heard of mills - the League released a public announcement every couple of months or so, as well as another whenever they found one. Though the knowledge they were also called farms was new.

Kio kept him there for nearly another hour, telling endless stories about E's mischievous side and the troubles of trying to keep dozens of pokemon together without constant battles and attacks. He was a wicked story teller with a humorous side nearly a mile long. The time flew by without Ash really even knowing it.

"Anything you want to tell me about the Celadon Mansion?" Ash asked, shouldering his bag onto his shoulders once again.

Kio's face immediately dropped. "Can't go there, A. It's been closed for about a month. Something weird's going on in there and no one's allowed in. If you're sightseeing, the Game Corner's a better option than whatever those aristocrats are cooking up in there."

Ash blinked again. "What do you think is going there?"

"Dunno, really." Kio shrugged. "Celadon Mansion hasn't ever been the highest place in the world and there's always been a few issues with how they treat their employees and such, but they're rich enough the news likes to turn a blind eye and the League never learns about it. I guess they're probably preparing some sort of big announcement to get people to spend more money and this is their way of getting attention about it. Only thing I can think of."

"Thanks." He said his goodbyes and walked out of the Day Care, squinting at the sun overhead. Although he hadn't really known what to expect, it had been a productive meeting. Kio had plenty of stories as well as a few training tips he had learned from his time on Officer Jenny's task force. All in all, it was a good time.

But now it was time for something else he had been looking forward to. The Game Corner, in its most basic form, was a casino legal for beginning trainers. Of course, there were rooms in the back that he wouldn't be allowed in, but for blackjack, smeargle eye, and the slot machines, he was perfectly able.

He couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. His mother would punt him halfway to Unova if she knew he had planned for the Game Corner since before he went on his journey, but it was every kid's dream to win big, especially with their prizes. TMs galore, eggs by the dozen, rare and unique pokemon.

Like dratini.

Following his ears toward the dull roar of the tourists, Ash set out toward the Game Corner.

It was almost impressively flashy. Bright neon signs louder than anything else he had seen in Celadon gleamed from the front, announcing the slogan _Fun for Everyone!_ The blinding pink, orange, and yellow were treating him worse than any flash. But he shouldered past a group of excitedly chattering tourists to glance at the posters stamped across the front of the store, announcing the pokemon held inside. All of them were brilliant.

He did notice something strange, though - all of the 'new arrival' posters were dated at the highest three months ago. No new pokemon had come in since then. Judging by how all of the posters were still outside it was difficult to win those pokemon, but it still didn't make much sense for no new pokemon to be making their way into the Game Corner. He shrugged it off and looked over the possible pokemon again.

Grinning, he pushed his way inside. Though he wouldn't spend too much money - he was cutting himself off at a hundred dollars - if he won one of those it would be an invaluable member to his team.

The Game Corner was a stark contrast to the Day Care. It was stuffed high with tourists and trainers alike, each filling the air with a buzz not unlike an oncoming horde of beedrill. The people were able to do a decent job competing against the booming music he could feel reverberating in his bones. In a whole, the entire place was unpleasant - Ash felt stifled by the heat and noise. But he pushed past it and walked forward to the front desk, sliding patiently into line behind a half dozen people or so.

He spent exactly one hundred dollars, as was his maximum, which got him twenty five coins. The conversion rate was a little ridiculous but it made sense. They didn't exactly want people just dumping money over the counter instead of playing their games.

Ash spent a long while just staring at the prizes available. The first to jump to his attention was the dratini, offered at five thousand coins. Which was, again, ridiculously expensive and absolutely what he was going for. There were only two dragon types found naturally in Kanto, and by found naturally he meant found never by novice trainers such as him. The only chance he'd have would be to catch a horsea and then somehow find a dragon scale to evolve it into a kingdra.

Again, not happening. This was probably the closest he'd ever been to a possibly attainable dragon type.

He squeezed between two trainers and made his way over to the slot machines. They looked the easiest to pick up, and he only had a few coins to make some serious money with. It was simple - try and stop the spinners at the right place to get straights, and coins come out.

Ash made three coins on his first spin and then lost for the next five in a row. Cursing, he slammed his fist onto the stop button, watching the stupid shellder click past instead of being in line like he needed it to. Growling, he accepted the one coin he made that round. It had to be rigged.

Standing up, he turned around to try and find another machine. A tourist immediately swept in and claimed his discarded one, plugging in a coin and clicking the button like a madman. Ash rotated, but it seemed like he had been lucky to grab that slot machine when he did. Almost every other one was full.

He hugged the wall, heading toward a vaguely dark corner away from the main floor where he could wait until a machine opened up. Reaching down, he moved to pull out his pokedex when he caught sight of something scratched onto the wall.

It was a circle with four lines inside of it, making a crosshair. He ran his fingers over the design. It was much too deep to have been carved by some bored kid waiting his turn. Pivoting to stare fully at it, Ash was even more confused to notice that it had been cleanly made, or planned.

He knew the Game Corner logo was an intersecting G and C, so this was strange. Glancing to the side to ask an employee, he instead caught sight of another symbol.

This one was an upside down V with lines making feet at the bottom of the letter. It was carved just as deliberately as the first.

There was another only a couple more feet down, a curved rectangle with a half circle inside. And another as an elaborately made E. And another-

Another as a boxy spiral.

Ash was far into confused. He traced over the spiral, feeling the grooves, but couldn't find anything more special about them. Moving down the line, still touching each one, he found that going to the left led him over a slot machine with no more symbols to be seen. Going to the right, however, led him up against another wall.

Another wall with a faint box carved into it, showing a hidden door.

Ash sucked in a deep breath. The boxy spiral had been a sign of an abuse mill, something that should have never existed and deserved to be stopped at all costs. He didn't know what those other symbols meant but he doubted they were all cheerful and happy.

But why would they be in the Game Corner?

He pushed lightly on the door. After a moment, it began to swing open, though he quickly stopped pushing. There wasn't any light from the other side, which made sense as he hadn't seen any light through the cracks in the door, but he did catch the swirling of dust that escaped through the entrance.

Ash hadn't exactly thought he would be any sort of hero. But there was a difference in being an ACE trainer employed by the League and investigating something that might potentially be an abuse mill's base. Whatever was going on in that door, it might not be good.

It might also be the employee's entrance to the back of the Game Corner, and then he could have a good laugh about it.

Taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart, Ash pushed harder on the door and slipped through the crack he had made.

Immediately, dust hit his feet. He dug quickly through his bag and pulled out his flashlight. Before he turned it on, he slowly closed the door behind him. He _really_ didn't want some Game Corner employee to throw him out if this turned out to be just their hidden entrance.

He switched on the flashlight, and was greeted by a thin layer of dust covering everything, swirled up by the door closing. Muffling his cough in his elbow, he shined the beam around to see what was down here.

It was a long hallway, dark enough that his meager flashlight could only do its best at illuminating a section at a time. The walls were a dull grey, the ceiling and floor a matching dusty white. He could see lights in the ceiling, though they weren't on. Maybe he'd find a light switch down here.

Ash started walking down the hallway. It wasn't nearly as long as he thought, ending quickly in a set of stairs. Again, there were no lights, but the dust here was less thick, though that didn't make much sense - what, did someone jump all the way from the door to the stairs?

His footsteps echoed loudly on the walls as he crept his way down. They weren't too long, but it was still obvious that he was now underground. The Game Corner had been on the ground level and this was not.

Once he reached the end of the stairs, the hallway on the end doubled back. He turned the corner cautiously, keeping his flashlight beam pointed down, but there was still no other sounds.

Now, though, there was no dust. It was a pristine environment, crisp white tiles against the grey of the walls, without a hint of flashing neon lights or booming music. If Game Corner used this as storage place or something, then they were doing an awful job.

The hallway split into a half dozen different directions, each looking exactly the same. Ash flicked his flashlight down each one but couldn't make out anything, so he started with the first on the left.

It was a wide, empty room at first glance, but as he moved closer he was able to make out markings against the wall. Thick, black marks outlined with rust - something had been attached to the wall here, and for a very long time. He felt along the edges, and guessed metal machinery - it was the only thing that made sense.

The room directly across still had furniture in it. Long, empty tables with attached seating formed a mockery of a cafeteria, silent in the pressing darkness. There was an empty bar in the back that must have been the kitchen at one point, but only the cabinets were remaining. Flicking his flashlight over the walls, Ash hopped over the counter to check everything.

The first cabinet actually had something. It was a broken plate, the edge shattered. He could see why someone left that behind. The next two had nothing. The last had something in a glass vial, rolled away and covered in dust.

Reaching back, he managed to get a hand on it and pull it out. A sort of vial covered in a dried, sticky substance that he barely managed to avoid. It clung wetly to the cabinet as if it didn't want to be parter, and Ash was only happy to drop it back in and move on.

The next two rooms were covered in the same black markings as the first, nothing different about them. He checked multiple times and the markings lined up perfect in all of the rooms, with only one difference, and that was something that must have been an enormous bolted table in the middle. Each of them had the tables in a different location.

The second to last room was the strangest so far.

Wide, circular tubes lined the rooms like pillars, except they were clear and didn't reach all the way to the ceiling. Rust markings were attached to the front, and several had strange substances dried and hardened across the insides. He wasn't able to see what they were with his weak flashlight, but they were obvious and dark.

In the hallway next to the final room, there was a light switch.

He deliberated for a long while whether to turn it on or not. For one, there clearly wasn't anyone home and his flashlight was just not strong enough to show everything. On the other hand, though, something was fishy down here.

In the end, he threw caution to the window and flicked it on. Immediately, brilliant lights streamed from overhead, nearly blinding him. He grimaced and rubbed his eyes, blinking away the spots. Clipping his flashlight back to his waist, he headed into the final room.

It was the most pristine, nary a speck of dust in the whole thing as well as having the most furniture inside. There was a table, a fancy wooden thing probably made from mahogany, surrounded by four chairs. In the back of the room, there were short walls used to contain things, probably.

Stacked against the back wall were cages.

Ash frowned and stepped closer. There were maybe half a dozen tucked in the corner, each around two feet tall and making a perfect box. Locks kept the fronts securely attached, and there was obvious evidence from scuff and skid marks that the entire back wall had once been covered in cages.

And inside one of the cages was a pokeball.

It was thickly covered in dust, the only patch inside the whole room, rolled in the back corner. If he hadn't been looking for anything strange, he wouldn't have seen it. The only issue was that there was no way his arm, even as skinny as they were, could reach through the bars and grab it.

Popping a pokeball off of his waist, he released the pokeball within. Rhyhorn rumbled a happy greeting, turning to butt his head against Ash's thigh, when he looked around and saw where they were. He rumbled again, this time in confusion.

"I know, bud. I found a hidden door in the Game Corner and went through. There's a pokeball back there - can you break the lock so I can grab it?"

Rhyhorn rumbled again, lumbering forward to sniff at the offending chunk of metal. He didn't even use a move - getting his horn under the latch, he jerked upward. The lock exploded off with a bang that echoed around the room.

Ash grinned, tapping him behind the horn. "Great job." Reaching inside, he was able to get a grip around the pokeball, which was surprisingly warm.

Standing back up, he looked at it. If it was a trainer's pokeball with a pokemon inside, he had to turn it into Officer Jenny at the soonest moment. But if it wasn't, he could probably use it for himself. Aiming toward the center of the room, he clicked the release button.

Scarlet mist immediately came out, settling in the center. Rhyhorn rumbled and stepped closer, tilting his head to the side. Ash stayed slightly behind the ground type just in case and waited for the pokemon.

It was small, smaller than Scorch, and a quadruped. Reddish fur with sharp black stripes and a tan underbelly, as well as a thick, fluffy tail. It shook its head as it emerged, ears perking up before falling flat.

There had barely been a moment of eye contact between Rhyhorn and the growlithe before it lunged.

Snarling and barking, it tore across the tiles and slammed into Rhyhorn like a bullet seed. Despite the damage it no doubt received from hitting his plates head on, the fire dog merely tried to clamp down on Rhyhorn's spines with a maw full of fire.

Ash managed to click the recall button just as Rhyhorn bucked it off, catching it in midair. His eyes were wide.

Rhyhorn rumbled in confusion, turning back to Ash with a question in his scarlet eyes. "I don't know. Maybe it was in a battle when it was recalled?"

The ground type shook his head, but before Ash could ask what he meant his starter was already lumbering back toward the middle of the room and the table. Once he followed him, Ash could see where he was going - there was a folder on the table. Walking closer, he sat at one of the chairs and flicked it open, setting the growlithe's pokeball on one of the empty slots on his waist.

Inside was a crisp sheet of paper, double sided with words printed on it. Rhyhorn stepped closer and Ash began to read allowed for both of them, eyes narrowed.

 _As of 6/01, the Celadon City Game Corner Base is no deactivated. All equipment besides (3) cafeteria tables, (4) kitchen cabinets, and (6) cages have been moved to the next location in Vermillion City Fishing Centre. All personnel has been relocated to the new location and is scheduled to arrive and take over 6/03._

 _For the esteemed pokemon breeders we receive pokemon from, please note that our contracts have not been severed. But as Project: Legendary has changed its main objective, the grass types of Celadon City are no longer our concern. Please bring any and all pokemon you wish to receive payment for to Vermillion City Fishing Centre. At that time, we will inform you of our other two locations if you are based closer to either one._

 _Please note that due to the changing objective of Project: Legendary, we will no longer pay for any grass types, including our regular bulbasaur, tangela, and chikorita orders. Our new requests will be arranged when you successfully meet with us in Vermillion._

 _If any of you have any questions or concerns, contact G at your earliest convenience. If any of you wish to terminate your contract with us, you will be taken care of you._

 _Steal pokemon for profit. Exploit pokemon for profit. All pokemon exist for the glory of Team Rocket._

Ash barely caught him as he nearly fell out of his chair. Team Rocket. The most notorious crime team in all of Kanto, vicious for stealing, harming, and even killing people and pokemon they thought were in their way. They had fallen quiet for the past decade, he knew, and the League had collectively taken a break on their hunt of them.

But the hidden passage in the Game Corner connected to a Team Rocket Base. And the message inside told of a plan to move bases and potentially hurt more people. Project: Legendary? What did that even mean?

Ash's chest hurt, both from his near-hyperventilating and rapidly pumping heart. Rhyhorn rumbled and pressed against his side, almost crooning in an attempt to calm Ash down. It was working - somewhat.

He took another moment to breathe before something else struck him. The pokeball on his waist - the growlithe - it was probably a Team Rocket pokemon. He had heard the stories of vicious, cruel pokemon that ignored their own pain in order to attack anything in sight. And the cages. The cafeteria. The rooms.

Team Rocket had been working under the Game Corner for however long and _no one knew about it_.

His mind flashed back one more time to the date. June fourth. The Team Rocket personnel had been scheduled to arrive and take over in Vermillion yesterday. They were already there.

He sprung to his feet, Rhyhorn right by his side. Snatching up the folder, he finally registered what was on the front of the manilla color. A boxy spiral. The same symbols that had been carved into the Game Corner wall. It had been a trail to lead them down here. But he was the one who had followed.

Ash barely made it around the table before he started running. Rhyhorn charged beside him, horn lowered and paws thumping against the ground. They made it out of the room and Ash looked further down the hallway, catching sight of a door. A lock was present on its knob.

"Break it down!" He shouted, still running. Rhyhorn bellowed in confirmation and took off even faster than before, shaking the walls with every step. The door didn't stand a chance. With the crunch of rending metal, it exploded outwards and exposed a set of stairs going upward.

Ash didn't stop and ran on. Rhyhorn growled and slammed the remains of the door to the side, doing his best to get up the stairs alongside Ash. Another door was at the top, locked as well. Rhyhorn knocked it down without taking a breath.

Sunlight streamed in, joined by the fierce smell of mint and wildflower. Ash sucked in a wild breath before taking off running once more. He recalled Rhyhorn mid stride, knowing his starter would only hurt the crowds trying to run through them.

He tried to remember the map of Celadon City in his mind. Ash was almost sure that the Pokemon Center was closer than the police station, but he wasn't positive. Oh, what he wouldn't give to have a pokenav to call someone from right where he was!

The Pokemon Center was closer. He busted through the doors and immediately ran for the videophones, pushing past a trainer who gave a startled "Hey!" He didn't stop but called an apology over his shoulder as he immediately slid into the chair.

Every videophone in the Pokemon Center had registered numbers in it. He typed in Vermillion City as fast as he could and clicked the first option. It was a number to Vermilion City's Gym.

A woman picked up after only three rings. "Hello, this is the Vermillion City Gym, how may I help you?"

"Is Surge there?" He asked, voice tight.

He could hear her frown over the phone. "Well, yes, this is his gym. He is not currently in a battle. Give me your name and I will tell him that you called."

"No." That wouldn't work. "I need to speak to him now."

"Sir, you can't just call and demand things like this," she said hotly, and he heard the squeak of a swiveling chair. "Now, for the last time, give me your name and I will tell him you asked-"

"It's about Team Rocket," he said in a whisper. No one else in the Pokemon Center seemed to hear him.

There was silence on the other side. "Is this a joke?" She said in a horrified tone.

"No. I swear it. Please, just get Surge on the line, I need to tell him what happened."

"If this is a joke…" she trailed off, but it was still clear to hear the fear in her voice. "I'll go get him. Give me a minute."

It was the longest minute Ash had ever had to wait. He spent the entire time jittery and wishing he was already there in Vermillion so he could tell Surge straight to the face. The growlithe's pokeball was hot against his side and he nervously palmed the manilla folder as he sat there.

After a horribly long time, the videophone clicked back to active. "Surge." A gruff voice said, deep and unmistakable. "Who the hell are you?"

"Ash Ketchum. I challenged you about a month ago."

"Runt." There was the sound of Surge scratching his stubble. "What did you say about Team Rocket?"

"I was in the Game Corner when I found a hidden door. I went in and found a Team Rocket base. There was a paper that said they were moving bases to Vermillion City, your Fishing Centre, and the date said they moved there yesterday. I think it was for their pokemon providers or something. I have the folder here - I ran to the phone immediately to call you or Officer Jenny."

There was silence for a while before Surge spoke again. "You in Celadon?"

"Yes."

"Go to the Jenny there. Ask for the chief. Don't take shit for an answer," Surge commanded, various rustling noises coming from his side. "She'll take the folder."

Ash couldn't even open his mouth before Surge cut off the call. He stood up, idly remembering that he had left nothing in his room. Whatever happened, he was ready.

He gave himself another second to breath before taking off toward the police station.

While the crowds had never been in his favour before, now they actively worked against him. His running was cut short only a few feet from the entrance of the Pokemon Center, a gaggle of tourists bustling in front of him. Trying to push his way through only resulted in dark glares. He managed to jump up and catch a sight of the blue roofed building, but it wasn't good enough. Gritting his teeth, he began to push forward.

Ash burst through the doors of the station and walked quickly forward, eyes searching around even as he moved. It was a large welcome room that connected to the emergency call receivers, a receptionist standing in front behind a thin desk. The man narrowed his eyes, but Ash brushed him off and jumped straight into the reason he was here.

"I need to see the chief."

The man shook his head, but Ash shook his right back. "I've been sent by Lt. Surge, and I need to see the chief right now."

Maybe he saw something in Ash's eyes, or maybe the name Surge scared him enough, but he relented and pointed toward a door in the back of the station. Ash thanked him and trotted toward it, very aware of the curious eyes from the other workers there. The door was already ajar, and he pushed it open from the crack to fully wide.

An Officer Jenny was sitting at her desk, staring intently at a much sleeker videophone to her right. Ash could just make out Surge's chiseled face before Officer Jenny looked at him sharply enough to cut stone.

"You said you had a folder?" In lieu of an answer, Ash handed over the manilla and watched her read through the paper. Her eyebrows rose steadily until they narrowed in a truly frightening glare.

"Kid, you did the right thing. Stay here," she demanded, shooting to her feet. Before he could open his mouth, she gave him the rest of the story. "Team Rocket hasn't made an open move in eleven years. If you aren't a liar, this could be our first lead onto what they've been doing for nearly a decade."

She disappeared like a shot out of the office and left Ash to his own devices. He glanced around, adrenaline running high, when a grunt interrupted him.

The videophone was still running. Surge looked at, a grin cutting his face in two. "Runt, if this turns out to be true, this'll be the first real job I'll have to do since your shit battle last month. Stand real still."

Ash frowned. "What do you mean?"

With a _pop_ , a hypno appeared in the room.

It was old and powerful, golden fur shining and its mane nearly long enough to cover its entire chest. The pendulum they always carried swung softly, a strange mixture between grey stone and shimmering psychic energy. It stared at him with tired eyes, tall enough they were evenly matched.

Ash glanced back at Surge, who was still grinning. "She's going to teleport you over here. Every kid needs to fight in a war to see what the fuck it means to be a trainer - now's a perfect time for you to learn that lesson."

xXx

 **Sorry for the long wait! But I was performing on stage and I thought this story could wait.** **But yeah! Fun chapter, sorry for the cliffhanger but it was getting too long. The first real addition of Team Rocket to the story so far and a creepy mention of Project: Legendary. What could it be? I'll give you a hint - it's not what you think it is. You're welcome to guess.**

 **Please enjoy and review!**


	4. What Kind of Monster

Ash couldn't help but blink incredulously. Team Rocket was made of criminals all about stealing pokemon and hurting trainers - he wasn't exactly prime material to be chosen to fight them.

Surge just grinned at him, teeth bared. "Runt, I fought my first real battle against a criminal team when I was eight. If anything, you're behind. Stand still. Hypno, transport the little baby over."

Ash only had a moment to be offended before a furry paw touched the small of his back and the world shuddered.

It wasn't as smooth as Professor Oak's alakazam - he could feel energy pressing against him on all sides, nearly choking him, and the burn from the sort of scraping on his skin hurt. When the world cleared back into colors instead of endless darkness, he felt a bit like he was going to throw up.

Hypno weren't renowned for their teleportation prowess. He could see why.

When he finally straightened, he could recognize his surroundings. He was in the back of Lt. Surge's gym, the brilliant lighting shining strong overhead. The same quality stone making up the pathway around the gym was cool beneath him and the battlefield showed signs of previous use - enormous burn scars littered the dirt, whole chunks ripped up and scattered over the field.

Surge thumped him on the shoulder, which nearly threw him right back to the ground. His hypno stood quietly by the side, such a calm presence as compared to the boisterous gym leader. She idly swung her pendulum, though her eyes never left Ash. The pale surfaces gleamed with psychic power.

"Well runt, I doubt you thought you'd be here again. Most babies run screaming once I'm done with them." His grin gleamed with dark satisfaction, but Ash could tell he wasn't cruel. From the little time he had spent around the man, he guessed it was a streak of humor few understood.

"I won, actually." Ash gritted his teeth, trying to clear his head from the swirling aftereffects of teleporting. "If anything, you had to chase me out."

Surge broke into deafening laughter. "Damn right I did! That rhyhorn of yours still as powerful?"

"Better." His lunch finally decided to stay in his stomach and he mostly pulled a recovery, looking around with more caution. The lights overhead were burning, callous and cold. The sudden shock from almost overpowering mint and leaves to the sting of ozone hit him almost as hard as the teleportation.

Surge straightened, pulling a few more inches up, not that he needed it. "Hypno, go to Jenny. Tell her I'll be there shortly." The psychic type didn't show any outward signs of acknowledgment but Surge nodded his head anyway and, with a flash, she disappeared.

"Jenny'll be outside. She'll probably interrogate you again once I cool her shit for bringing you. The plan's to attack in a quarter of an hour, at least if I remember right." He shrugged. "Not too much of a strategy. Me and Jenny will cream those in the front while you and the others clean up the bastards we don't care enough about getting."

Ash nodded, but Surge's little explanation from back in Officer Jenny's office didn't make full sense. "Why did you bring me?"

"No bowing down and kissing my boots for lettin' you fight with the big kids for once in your life?" His grin was only matched by the loud laughter a few seconds later. "You ain't shit, kid, I won't lie. Your team needed a lot of work when I last saw you but it had potential. Beating Erika isn't too shabby and even challenging Sabrina takes more balls than most trainers have."

"Besides, Team Rocket is a threat, even if it hasn't seemed that way for a long while. More hands-on deck, especially ones that can handle their damn share, won't be turned down."

He cackled. "At least, only if I can manhandle Jenny into letting you within three miles of the team. She's got some sort of thing about letting babies fight criminals."

Surge's speech lifted his spirits more than he would have thought they would have, though the final words did put a damper on his mood. Spine straightening, he nodded confidently toward Surge.

The giant of a man grinned back, abruptly turning toward the door and starting to walk. Ash had to take nearly three steps to match the man's one but with a strange combination of trotting and walking, he was next to Surge when the man basically flicked the enormous doors open.

Right across the street was the police station. Yellow tape stretched almost across the entire street, leaving a tiny section for passerbyers to walk by - though they didn't seem like they wanted to. A border of people encircled the space, whispering in confusion as officers prepared for the raid.

There were nearly a dozen, though with how they constantly moved around Ash couldn't be sure. All had something strange covering their chest and arms, with thick black clothing underneath. Some even had protective masks on, numerous pokeballs across their waist. They weren't contained by a six pokemon rule. There was Officer Jenny, farther from an identical copy to the one he had left behind in Celadon City than the rumors he had heard about. Her blue hair was pinned back, cut jaggedly short around her ears instead of in the loops of the most basic Jenny. Her clothes were the same skintight black, silver buckles attaching it securely to her limbs. All in all, she looked like she saw a fair bit more action than any of the other Officer Jennys he had seen.

Surge grunted, still moving forward. He tossed a pokeball up from his pocket, clicking the release button quickly. In a flash, a raichu appeared.

Ash instantly knew it had been the raichu Surge had threatened him with on their first meeting. From its first appearance, Ash could feel the electricity crackle through the air like a living thing, splintering off of the golden fur without seemingly any effort. It squeaked, nose twitching, before leaping the six feet to Surge's shoulder like it was nothing. The man didn't flinch as what must have been sixty pounds landed on his shoulder, scratching his stubble. Raichu's tail curled over his neck, jagged edge sharp against his tanned skin.

An officer raised a hand in greeting toward the giant of a man, although they frowned when they caught sight of Ash trotting quickly behind. Surge cleared the crowd of people with a single glare and he hopped easily over the protection tape - Ash had to duck underneath. The crowd immediately pressed back against it, chattering.

Now that he was closer, he could see what the officers were wearing. The skintight black clothing was a new Silph Co invention mainly for task forces - it was fire retardant, waterproof, and strong enough to stop bruises from a medium powered water gun. Few trainers wore Bracewear, however, because of their exorbitant price and tremendous stiffness. Ash could see they had sliced holes around the knees and elbows to move better, but most moved with a sort of jerkiness that betrayed the stiff fabric.

The plating over their chest and arms was harder to place, mainly because he hadn't seen anything like it before. At his best guess, it was some sort of armor, though it really didn't look strong enough to block any attacks. The plastic, colored grey, looked worryingly thin.

Surge, without looking, reached back with one hand and pushed Ash forward. He stumbled a bit, straightening quickly, and quickly palmed his starter's pokeball. The electric master cleared his throat to get Officer Jenny's attention, and Ash looked up to meet eyes with the blue-haired task force leader.

Officer Jenny, who had frozen halfway through bucking a section of protective casing over her chest, barely took more than a second to understand who he must have been. "Surge! What the hell are you doing?"

"Enjoyin' myself." His grin was sharp and he looked far from apologizing. "This runt down here will be helping us take the bastards. We'll handle the big ones - he'll just stick to taking out the trash."

"Excuse me?" Jenny snapped, eyes narrowed and cold. "He's a kid."

Surge widened his grin and shrugged. "If his instincts are shit enough he challenged me first, he should be plenty strong enough to carve through some grunts."

Officer Jenny didn't quite seem to have a response but she fought viciously for one. Surge sighed and raised a hand before her vaguely hiss-like sounds could form words, talking softly to only reach her and Ash's ears. "Listen, alright, he was the one who got us the intel on the base in the first place. He'll barely have to fight if your officers can actually handle themselves. If they're still as shit as last time, well, runt over here can fight off grunts."

Ash straightened without consciously realizing it, eyes bright and determined. Officer Jenny's eyes flicked down to his belt and he bared his pokeballs, which she narrowed her eyes at the low number. But he didn't let it get to him, grabbing onto the rising confidence in his chest and trying to project it.

After what seemed like forever, she sighed. "Fine. He'll be in the back, and you'll keep an eye on him at all times."

"I will," Ash spoke for himself, feeling like he was like glowing. He let his hand fall again to run over the red and white spheres before frowning. There was a second one that warmed his hand to the touch, a sure sign of a fire type. He felt along the pokeball for a moment before realizing what it was. "Officer Jenny?"

She turned back to him from when she had been about to go, eyes narrowed. Surge walked forward to get a closer look, eyebrows raised. Raichu chittered softly, sending a few stray sparks into the air.

"When I was in the base, I found a pokeball. There was a growlithe inside, but it was feral. It attacked my pokemon without any offensive move toward it," he explained, showing off the sphere. Officer Jenny's eyes narrowed further, becoming mere pinpricks of light. It was almost frightening to look at.

She took another moment to think about it before moving. Clicking the last buckles of her chest plate into position, she shifted it into place. Her arm braces were adjusted quickly and a sort of flap was pulled up from her suit over her mouth - smoke covering, or something like that. Whatever it was, it almost made her look like she was ready for a battle against a pokemon herself.

The officers around her seemed to pick up what she was doing, whispering quietly to each other while attaching the last bits of their armor. Surge narrowed his eyes, Raichu sparking softly.

Jenny narrowed her eyes, turning around. With a sweep of her arm, officers all around moved back, shoulders tensing as they focused their attention on her. She clicked the release of a pokeball out in the newly formed empty space.

The arcanine that emerged was enormous. It towered easily over him, red and black striped fur shining warmly in the sun while its ruff and tail flicked slowly. The red mist was still disappearing as it crouched, growling deeply, immediately shifted into a battle position. Being on Officer Jenny's team would do that for you.

She gave a whistling chirp and it relaxed, peering down to bump his head against her chest. Jenny whispered a few commands to its sharp ears before turning back to him, clicking her arm braces together once before raising them up.

"Release it in front of Arcanine," she said, moving back to be out of the line of fire.

Narrowing his eyes, ready to release his own pokemon in the tiny chance they were needed, he clicked the release.

Immediately, the snarling pup pokemon appeared. It barely gave a look around before lunging toward Arcanine, who merely snorted and leaned down, pushing the fire type with one of its enormous paws. The dog yelped and growled, but Arcanine just leaned down and grabbed it by the back of its scruff, hefting it into the air. It snarled and spun around, lashing out with its claws, but the attacks did nothing. At a sign from Jenny, Ash recalled it.

She held out her hand for the pokeball and he gave it over, letting the sphere roll over her palm until she got a good grip on it. The next second, she tossed it to another officer, who snatched it cleanly out of the air and marched off.

"I'll send it to the League. We haven't gotten many good samples of the drugs they use but that damn growlithe was pumped full - I haven't seen one so aggressive in near twenty years." She scowled darker, giving her pokemon a quick look before recalling it. Ash could feel the temperature drop when the massive fire type disappeared, though he hadn't been too aware of a raise when it had appeared.

She fixed her glare back on him, though it lost some of its intensity. "Did you see anything else in that base?"

"Just some cages, tables, and cabinets. They took everything else out."

Officer Jenny still hadn't lost her narrowed eyes, but her posture had relaxed now that she knew the basics of what she was going to be fighting. She cracked her neck, flicking her fingers around as if to warm them up, before fixing Ash with a softer glare.

"Kid, I still don't know what the hell Surge is doing putting you out here, but you listen to me. Right now, I am your commanding officer, even if you've never fought before in your life." Her voice was hard, sharp. This was the person that commanded legions of officers all around Vermilion City to fight back against those that wanted ill, risking life and limb every time she went out on the field. He would be an idiot to cross her. Ash nodded his head.

Officer Jenny sighed again, shaking her head. "Surge better be right about you," she grunted, turning back to her other officers. Barking a few commands to the people gearing up around her, someone grabbed a thin set of braces, some sort of plastic tinged a dark grey. The person - a man with a tightly trimmed red beard - inspected them for a second before striding over to Ash, a warm grin on his face.

"Surge!" His voice was brightly cheerful but almost faked, and he purposely didn't make eye contact with the giant. Seven pokeballs sat securely attached to his waist. "Heard you brought a newbie. Jen ain't too happy about that."

He turned to Ash. "Hey there, I'm Rick. She wants you to have these arm plates, at least for now. We don't have time to get you any Bracewear and the chest plates are difficult to fit without measurements taken beforehand - and, no offense, but you're short and skinny enough I doubt any extras we have will fit you."

Ash narrowed his eyes but caught sight of Surge the next moment - the man was frowning, his normally boisterous personality on hold for some sort of powerful disapproval. It wasn't directed at him, but instead Rick - the red-bearded man had obviously done something truly impressive to piss the man off. Or, knowing Surge, maybe just looked at him wrong. But Ash didn't really think that was it.

Rick, when he followed Ash's eyes to meet Surge's burning gaze, flinched. He seemed quite content to ignore the man's existence, but that wasn't an option. Ash hurried to draw the conversation away from it.

"What do they do? The braces, I mean."

Rick perked back up. "The Platewear? Not the most creative name, sure, but they're basically heavily condensed protective surfaces. They won't do much if a pokemon tries to hit you, but they're devilishly helpful for rebounding stray attacks from an all-out battle like the one we're about to have.

He matched the officer's grin. That did sound useful - while he hadn't been in any seriously dangerous battles, as his pokemon grew in strength, he knew that things would get more dangerous. "How do you use them?"

The officer nodded, opening his mouth. A frown split his face as he turned to Surge, asking a question in a low tone. "You mind?"

"Oh?" Ash did not like the grin on the man's face, exposing far too many teeth to be entirely friendly. "Raichu, zap him."

Rick yelped as Raichu snapped its tail toward him, releasing a beam of electricity that crackled through the air. He managed to react in the nick of time, raising his arm braces in an X over his chest. The lightning slammed into it hard enough to push him back several feet but when it stopped, he emerged not too worse for wear. His hair stood all on end and his skin was faintly charred, the hairs burned right off. The glare he leveled at the gym leader lost its intensity when next to the immensely puffed out beard still sparking occasionally.

"Guess Raichu thought your dusty ass was strong enough for that," he said, more than a touch mocking. Raichu made a chittering sound Ash could definitely pinpoint as laughter, an undercurrent of actual anger running through it.

Ash, perhaps wisely, drew Rick's attention back onto himself. "That's great. How do I get them on?"

Rick helped him attach the buckles over his wrist and elbow, pulling them snuggly enough they wouldn't shift while avoiding cutting off blood flow. They were stiff and cold to the touch, but as he shifted his arms around and caught the light flashing off the reflexive surfaces, he couldn't deny he felt much more protected than when he was just in his shirt. He was glad he didn't have the Bracewear, though - it seemed very difficult to move properly in.

Officer Jenny, of course, made it seem as easy as sweatpants and a loose t-shirt. Vermillion's protector just had the air around her of superiority, though one look at her and you knew she had earned it.

Rick had Ash finish up, tightening one last buckle, before turning to leave. He paused first, seemingly thinking of something. "Kid, word of advice. Stick behind us and let the officers handle the worst of the grunts - you shouldn't have any troubles with the ones we let slip by."

Surge stepped forward, normally bright and proud eyes dark. "But don't forget this isn't some fancy battle between you and another trainer. You remember that damn growlithe - their pokemon won't stop when your team is knocked out."

"You first bring him onto the field without asking Jen and now you're filling his head full of nightmares," Rick muttered before raising his voice to Ash. "Kid, they're not that bad. Sure, they pretend at battling the big crowds but they're actually pretty bad themselves. There's a reason we haven't heard from them in a decade or so."

Surge frowned, narrowing his eyes, but the officer kept talking. "You ever heard of Jessie n' James?" When Ash shook his head, he continued. "They're the most famous Team Rocket members - mainly for their stupidity. Tried to attack two separate Pokemon Centers with a mere three pokemon, tried to steal from a different League protected building, and they even tried to steal from the Sister's gym - heard they were in the hospital for a couple of months before they could actually go on trial."

"Didn't have to search very hard to find them - they wore bright white uniforms and never changed." He held up his fingers as if he was looking through a camera. "Don't even get me started on their hair - Jessie had this scarlet ponytail so long you could see it for miles. James wasn't much better. Some sort of vivid blue, I guess. And they sang!"

Rick snorted. "The League barely had to step in to stop them - they almost blew themselves up numerous times. Almost seemed like they wanted it. But any kid a day into their journey could probably scare them off."

Ash blinked, but Rick had already started to walk off, leaving a frowning Surge. The man's grimace had deepened with every word the officer had said, shoulders painfully tight.

"Don't listen too hard to him, runt. He ain't too strong himself, no matter what he says. Just stay behind Jenny n' I and we'll handle most of it."

He nodded, though he doubted the man had seen it. Surge was lost in thought, eyes elsewhere even as he showed him where to go.

"Over there." Surge extended his finger toward an area close to the police station, relatively clear of any tools or people. "Go tell your team, and get ready. Five minutes and we're heading out."

Ash nodded, turning toward the area. There was an empty crate with the Silph Co symbol on it, the insides lined with a protective lining. There was a sticky note with Platewear scrawled lightly over its surface. He took a moment to breathe before grabbing his pokeballs and tossing them out.

Rhyhorn tensed as soon as he was released, releasing a deep enough growl that several officers looked over with their eyes narrowed. Ash paid it no mind, kneeling down to place his hand behind his horn. He barely had to lower his head to meet his friend's eyes, the ground type rumbling up at him.

Scorch yipped, padding closer to press her nose against his side to sniff him carefully. She no doubt smelled the growlithe and, if the sudden tensing of her tails were anything to go by, also sensed the aggression the thing had been reeking. While vulpix didn't have quite the olfactory skills of canine pokemon, like houndour and growlithe, theirs were still advanced far beyond any human. She looked up at him, large grey-brown eyes narrowed.

Gale spread his wings to immediately take to the skies, something bright in his dark eyes, but Ash glared sharply and the avian subsided. His aggression was at an all-time peak, and with him standing nearly above Ash's knees and weighing nearly nine pounds, that anger packed a punch.

"We're going on a raid," Ash explained quietly. Rhyhorn immediately snapped to attention, narrowing his scarlet eyes and letting out a low puff of dusty breath. "It's against Team Rocket. You know what they do, right? I've told you."

He received affirmative replies. There had been nights on the road that they had all curled up around a fire, telling stories long into the night. Team Rocket had been a story his mother had told him a few times, though she never told him very much. She always seemed to dance hesitantly around the topic.

"Officer Jenny and Lt. Surge - you remember him? - are going to be leading the charge, but we'll be in the back to take care of the rest. We're going to stop them," he said, clenching his fists.

Rhyhorn bellowed back, though he kept his voice down a little. Gale shrieked, spreading his wings and nearly clipping Scorch. She barked back, ears flattening, but Ash stood up and they both turned obidentially toward him.

"Five minutes. Is everyone ready?" They all nodded their heads in some way, tensing up and preparing for battle. The air warmed up as Scorch flexed her four tails, though she refrained from activating flash fire. Rhyhorn made the ground tremble softly, while Gale took to the air and began to warm up.

Surge marched over, grunting as he looked over Ash's team. "That rhyhorn grew like a weed since last time, eh? Near full grown."

"Yep." Ash grinned and looked over his starter. While he hadn't taken the time in a while to notice the sizes of his pokemon, they were all growing well. Gale, of course, was constantly increasing and Scorch had finally filled in the hollow over her stomach. But Rhyhorn had grown the most.

"There's a guy I know here that can get 'im all ready for riding. Charges a fucking penny for it but he does a good job. Check him out when you're done taking out these bastards." His grin was sharp, though it faded into a more curious look as he stared over Ash's team.

"Your spearow is a few battles from evolving, I'd say. That vulpix is large for her size - and four tails ain't too bad." Surge narrowed his eyes. "Being really picky with your catches, aren't you? I was challenged just a few days ago by another hopeful and they had two full teams."

Ash shrugged. "I focus more on pokemon that are strong enough to keep up with me. All of mine are powerful and determined."

He laughed loudly. "Hell of a way to do it!" Surge slapped his back hard enough to force him a few steps forward. "Thirty seconds. Get out there."

Ash straightened fully, flicking his hair back. He switched his cap over his head more securely, settling his hand down quickly as Gale dove down sharply to land on his shoulder. The spearow nipped at a strand of his hair, nearly ripping it out, flexing his talons against the tauros leather.

He looked around quickly to see Officer Jenny and the other officers were lining up by the boundary tape. Surge was next to them, scaring away the civilians. Officer Jenny seemed a bit miffed at the giant doing her job but seemed to make it almost a competition, snapping her fingers until the entire crowd cleared. The officers, faces grim, buckled their Plate and Bracewear and checked over their pokeballs.

Ash closed his eyes and breathed. He pushed every thought of the speech Rick had given out of his head, every thought of failure, every thought of running away, focusing only on Rhyhorn by his side. The ground type's calm presence soothed him as he tried to focus on what was to come.

Team Rocket was not a trainer on the side of a route waiting to battle against another trainer. There was no cash prize from winning, there was no handshake at the end, there was no end when his pokemon were just knocked out. Even if he won, they wouldn't just run away. This was not a battle he could take anything close to casual.

Rhyhorn rumbled quietly enough to be nearly subtle. Ash smiled and tapped behind his horn, starting to walk forward to get into line with the officers. He ended up in the back, holding up his pokeballs. Officer Jenny shot him a look and he recalled his pokemon, sliding quickly into line. She pinned back one last strand of blue hair and took to the front, eyes narrowed.

"Listen up. We're going to hit them hard and fast - we don't know whether they know or not that we're coming. I need everyone in their formation. Don't stray from it."

Ash narrowed his eyes - he didn't have a formation. By the time he opened his mouth, one of the officers in front of him grabbed his shoulder.

"You're with us, kid. Diamond formation, split upon battle. You're on the left." The woman turned back to Officer Jenny, grey eyes cold.

Jenny didn't give them a pep talk. She merely looked toward Surge, nodded her head, and then they began to walk. Crowds split in front of them and Ash could feel their curious, wary, and almost hostile looks tumbling down on him. The officers were well used to it, but their nerves were for another reason. Team Rocket, at this point, was an unknown evil.

The Fishing Centre looked far from imposing at first. It was a wide building covered in decorative nets and fishing poles, windows tall and lined with emerald green shutters. If Ash had walked by it, he wouldn't have suspected anything wrong with it.

There were a few people talking out front, but the moment they saw the stone cold task force walk toward them, they split. Jenny didn't pursue them - they were, most likely, shoppers who had no idea what was actually going on inside the store. Ash couldn't see anyone inside, but a light had gone out - whoever was inside knew they were there.

"Formations!" She barked, staring at the double doors.

The same woman from before grabbed Ash's shoulder and pulled him back. There were three other people in the group, each a bit younger than most of the other officers. One was a kid Ash recognized from the Conference two years ago - he had made it into the Top 16. They kept their gazes mostly forward, scanning for threats, hands constantly splayed over their pokeballs.

He was on the left, the rest falling in to make a diamond. The woman was in the front. They were all in the back of the pack, the clean-up crew, and Ash was going to do his absolute best to defeat whoever they were up against.

Surge was the one who instigated it. With his enormous raichu still on his shoulders, he marched forward and pounded on the doors. There was no response. With a grunt, he kicked the center of the doors hard enough that Ash could hear the latch break open.

His raichu lit up its tail, providing a beam of light into the dark store. It caught upon a thick cloud of gases trickling over the ground, a pale purple in appearance. The entire store was filled with it.

Surge's Hypno appeared just as the gases exploded.

She barely had a quarter of a second but she still managed to raise an impossibly thick shield in that time, restraining the entire explosion faster than the blink of an eye. The building shuddered, groaning and shrieking as the explosion tore apart steel and concrete in the areas Hypno didn't put up the shield. With a scream, the back half of the roof caved in, exposing twitching electric wires and shattered support beams. A billow of dust covered the entire street.

Surge had barely moved, though Raichu was spitting electricity furiously. Hypno's eyes flashed blue and she released the shield, turning toward Surge the next second. After a moment, the giant cursed and shouted toward Jenny.

"They're teleporting out! We have to move in!"

She sprang to attention. "Pierce charge! A-3, to me!"

Ash had only a second to think about what that could mean before his team charged. He lagged a second behind but quickly made up for it, sprinting over the dust-covered streets with his hands steady on his pokeballs. They slid into formation behind another diamond, going toward the cavernous maw that was the destroyed doors.

There was still a thick layer of poisonous gas, but most of it slithered against the ground and was dissipating by the second. Ash covered his mouth with the back of his arm and ran on, his diamond splitting from the other and starting to cover the right side of the building. There was little to see in the dark but it was easy to see that there was nothing moving - nothing but three motionless koffing stacked in the corner. It wasn't clear whether they were still alive but it was clear they wouldn't be present in a fight - they had most likely used all of their interior gases for that attack. Dust swirled around the room like a living thing, the hisses of crackling electric wires sounding like a million miles away.

They slowly circled around the store, passing two other diamonds in their search for the entrance. The desk had nothing and neither did the rows upon rows of fishing poles, most everything else bare. Chairs were already thrown to the ground and several shelves were knocked down - whoever had been in the store before they arrived had left in a hurry. But he couldn't find any signs of where they had gone.

At least until Ash caught sight of a symbol carved into the wall. A stylized E with a curving underline. Only a foot away from it was a curved rectangle, then an upside down V, then-

A boxy spiral. His heart skipped a beat. Here it came.

"Over here!" He bellowed, getting the attention of his diamond. They ran toward the wall, frowning as there weren't any obvious enemies. The one at the back didn't turn toward him, keeping their attention on the dusty room as to avoid any sneak attacks. Ash felt like an outsider in their well-oiled machine.

"What do you mean, kid?" The woman asked, snapping him back to attention. He shot her a look, eyebrows furrowed. The symbols weren't exactly hidden.

He ran his fingers over the wall, turning both ways. The symbols continued only left. Following the strange signs, he ignored her question until he found the same notch in the wall like last time. No matter their level of danger, it seemed Team Rocket wasn't the most creative bunch.

Ash pushed lightly. He could hear the sound of a latch catching and, since he wasn't Surge, he doubted he could break it with a kick. He turned to tell his diamond only to come face to face with Jenny and Surge. No matter whatever he was doing right now, those two combined was a sight to give the most hardened trainer a shiver.

Their eyes were wide as they caught sight of the hidden door against the wall, following the trail of symbols. Jenny stepped back, giving him a surprised look. "Not bad. How'd you know where to look?" Her voice seemed breathtakingly loud in the dim of the room.

"Celadon. These are illegal pokemon breeder logos," he explained, tapping the one closest to him.

Jenny nodded, shooting Surge a quick glance. He grinned back, taking a few steps away for a running start. Surge launched another kick at the door. It shuddered but with a second kick the latch snapped and it burst open, revealing a narrow stairway leading down. But unlike last time, Ash could hear voices and rustling from beneath - sounds that had gone silent as the bang from the broken door echoed down the stairs. There was a hushed quality that the mostly silent entrance brought, muffled footsteps echoing back up the stairs.

Surge had barely put his foot back down before Jenny was charging, hands flying to her pokeballs. She released her first before she had even gotten to the bottom of the stairs, her enormous arcanine slamming into the marble tiles with enough force to make them crack. A scream echoed up the stairway, and Arcanine let loose a burst of fire hot enough to bring sweat across Ash's brow.

"Go!" The leader of his diamond hissed at him, grabbing a pokeball. Surge had taken the stairs in about three jumps, releasing two other electric types alongside Raichu. He disappeared out of sight just as Ash began sprinting down.

His diamond moved smoothly with the notable exception of him as they arrived down in the base. It was different from the Game Corner, having clearly been made for actual storage before the criminals invaded it. There was no hallway or separate rooms - instead, it was a wide-open space with strange tubes and cabinets lining the walls. There were the same pale white tiles, impersonal and sterile, the lights brilliant and unending.

And in the middle was a small army of people. They wore pitch black uniforms, finished with gloves and boots. A symbol stood tall and proud on their chest: an enormous scarlet R, harsh and jagged. Both groups were frozen as they made eye contact, Jenny dimly chasing an alakazam in the background with Arcanine. Neither group made a move.

At least until Surge let out a whoop, sprinting forward and punching one in the face hard enough to knock them out. The rest split immediately, grabbing pokeballs and tossing them out as fast as they could, snarling commands.

Ash's diamond moved forward to the left side of the wide room, flanking a charging team of much more professional looking officers. The brilliant lights overhead were shadowed by the seemingly unending flashes of scarlet light as pokemon after pokemon were released.

The room he had previously thought was enormous now seemed much more cramped. Nearly four arcanine charged over immediately, tackling the enormous muk and several drowzee spreading waves of both psychic energy and stench across the base.

Ash clicked his first pokeball's release button. His diamond split almost automatically just as a trio of grunts appeared.

Rhyhorn appeared with a rumbling bellow, shaking the stone beneath him. One grunt turned to challenge him, a man with bluish hair. He bared his teeth akin to a predator, eyes narrowed, and released a pokemon, revealing the squat form of a sandshrew. It squeaked, surprisingly aggressive, slashing its claws and bristling upward.

Ash took the battle first. "Spite attack."

Shadows dripped from the ceiling and pooled in his mouth, almost seeming to hiss and spit like a living thing. With a bellow, Rhyhorn shot the glob of ghostly energy and hit the sandshrew head on. It was forcibly pulled from its charge, eyes dull and shivering.

There was no time to protect itself from Rhyhorn's furious charge. A horn attack later and it was down for the count, its body collapsed against the ground until the grunt recalled it. With a snarl on his face, he released his second pokemon - a fat koffing that released a shockwave of toxic gas as soon as it was released.

Ash glared at the pokemon before his eyes flicked up. The low ceiling was annoying but it was high enough Gale wouldn't have too much trouble. Scorch could use distract it long enough for the bird to go to town.

The spearow shrieked a challenge upon his arrival, reddish crest sticking up far past his regular brown feathers. Scorch barked and moved forward, already reacting to Ash's shout of "Light show!"

He was ready and was able to cover his eyes as she released the brilliant burst of fire from the tips of her tails, blinding the already clumsy koffing. It groaned in confusion, listening for the commands of its trainer, but by that point Gale had already moved. Beak glowing furious with peck, he slammed into the ball-like pokemon and hit it to the ground. Rhyhorn sprang forward but Gale shrieked and knocked it out himself, stabbing the koffing repeatedly even as it desperately released wave after wave of poison.

The grunt recalled it, eyes wide. Before Ash could make a move to restrain him, he grabbed tightly onto his pokeballs and ran back the way he had come.

Another wave of grunts poured into the room from three doors in the back. They released waves of pokemon, each with several, and didn't hang around a moment after that. Their pokemon flooded the room without commands or control, following their drugged instincts to attack.

Ash heard the rippling growl terrifyingly close to him and barely had time to twitch before a persian nearly the size of his starter prowled past another battle, dark eyes glittering with malice. Its golden fur caught the light, exposing the flashing gem on its forehead.

Its growl shook the very bones he was made of. It was the sound that his ancestors had learned to accept their death with, the sound of a predator that had finally found its prey, the sound of a hunt beginning.

A bellow answered it. Rhyhorn lunged forward, hiding Ash behind his bulk. Scorch and Gale were double-teaming a cubone but Rhyhorn didn't need their help. Something was threatening his leader and few would survive that.

The persian yowled a challenge, springing forward even as it released a blast of energy from its gem. It made contact and actually blazed through Rhyhorn's weak nerves, giving him a jolt of pain. He ignored it, digging his claws into the cracking tiles and waiting.

Ash took command. "Stomp!"

The persian never broke in its charge, never once considering not attacking the behemoth in front of it. Fangs bared in a snarl, it kicked off the ground and lunged. Its leap brought it nearly ten feet forward.

Rhyhorn took the hit, not like there was much he could do to stop it, and immediately reared. Persian scrabbled at his spines with its wickedly sharp claws, yowling, but it couldn't get a hold before Rhyhorn managed to shake it off. He used his bulk to slam his front two paws onto its chest. Ash definitely heard something crack.

It screeched with pain, its gem glowing with brilliant power. Swinging its curled tail around and infusing it with a strange energy Ash recognized as a very unorthodox knock off, it swung it desperately to try and knock Rhyhorn off.

But in its rather creative use, it was weak. Rhyhorn shrugged off the dark energy without too much trouble, bellowing back to counter the pain. With the shriek of cracking stone, a boulder shaped from dirt and rock ripped itself from the ground, tearing past the marble tiles, and slammed into the pinned normal type.

It collapsed fully, making no effort to escape Rhyhorn's bulk. He clambered off of it, sniffing quickly at the hole from his strongest rock blast yet before turning back to Ash with a proud rumble. Ash grinned wide enough to light up the room.

Gale shrieked a victory as he and Scorch finished off the cubone, clambering off its fallen form and flapping back toward him. He was missing a primary or two but the loss hardly seemed to slow him down - his eyes gleamed with the satisfaction of battle.

"Come on, guys, that's it! Keep going!" He encouraged, straightening fully to look for another threat. Ash had barely scanned half of the enormous room when someone caught sight of him.

The man wasn't a low member like the one he had fought. There was no skintight black uniform, no vividly bold R, but instead some sort of war suit, golden lines crisscrossing over his shoulders. One glance at him and it was clear to see he was important.

There was also the fact he was battling Surge.

An enormous charizard was raging over the battlefield. It was nearly eight feet tall, each wing double that, and its grey eyes shone with nothing but fierce bloodlust. He had thought the heat from Jenny's arcanine was bad but this was double, triple that.

Its wings hit anything in its path, friend or foe, and it torched even the slightest movement from any other pokemon or trainer. The thick scarlet scales over its body shrugged off any move and it never made a move to defend, even when the opportunity presented itself. Ash was momentarily stunned at seeing the incredibly rare fire type, something he never thought he'd actually see. Professor Oak only gave one out a year and they could only be bought from less than five breeders in all of Kanto and Johto. Finding one in the wild was near impossible, as their natural habitat was volcanos and they rarely ventured elsewhere. He could see the beauty of its power even through the savagery but admiration was not the same as respect.

A moment later, it was fried by a burst of electricity strong enough to leave spots behind his eyes. The charizard roared in anger and took off toward the three pokemon darting around its feet, smacking a grunt's pokemon out of way without even looking. Raichu, jolteon, and an electrive, all under Surge's control. The man's normally boisterous face was grim even as he commanded his pokemon flawlessly.

There was a shriek and half the ceiling collapsed as the charizard hit it out of the way, concrete tumbling down on its head and wings. It shrugged it off as if it was a gentle rain, grabbing the larger chunks and hurtling them towards its foes. One connected, although the electrive recovered quickly and jumped back into the fray.

The man in charge of the fire type did little to control it. Instead, he just hung back, a slight smirk on his face. He scanned the battles happening around him, three more pokeballs calm against his waist.

His eyes met Ash's.

Everything about him screamed deadly casual. There was a looseness in his motions that the enormous, screaming charizard next to him couldn't defeat, a smoothness to his face as he cocked an eyebrow. Even his violet mohawk, something normally seen as rebellious, was quietly sophisticated. The steel in his face and eyes was of power, not rank.

There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other, the battle raging around them. Ash narrowed his eyes, reaching back as Rhyhorn lumbered up beside him, scarlet eyes flashing. Scorch barked worriedly by his side, shooting a stray ember from one of her tails to distract a golbat with its bright light. Gale shrieked overhead.

The man noticed them all. There was a smirk on his cold face, cruelly vicious, and he clicked the release on a pokeball and turned back to his battle with Surge without another thought.

The tauros that emerged bellowed like a train before immediately charging. It was at the peak of its prime, all raging aggression. It took only a moment before its glowing black eyes met with those of Ash's team and it readjusted its course toward them, slamming a weakened vileplume out of the way and knocking it out.

Ash narrowed his eyes. He opened his mouth to shout a few commands but was stopped.

Scorch howled, leaping in front of his pokemon. Her eyes flashed the brightest blue he had ever seen from her, but he couldn't see any other signs of the psychic energy - until he looked at Gale and Rhyhorn.

Both of their eyes gleamed, a pale reflection of the blue from Scorch. He flashed back to his first time meeting her and how she had commanded her pack through basic telepathy. It lasted for nearly thirty seconds before the psychic energy broke up. Rhyhorn apparently contested one of the plans, grumbling a counterattack until Scorch agreed, but then they turned back to the quickly approaching tauros.

It had stopped to fight another member of Ash's diamond, the same boy from the League. His attention was divided between a lightning fast crobat and the tauros, and he was barely able to get his rapidash to direct the pokemon away from his team. It slammed into the wall hard enough to shatter nearly ten tiles from the incinerate, but shook it off as easily as a candle flame and turned toward Ash.

Scorch yipped again, one final command, and his team began to move.

Ash couldn't help but beam. She had finally gotten the boost she needed to return to the powerful, proud pokemon he had seen on Route 8 - the leader of a pack that knew her strength and how to fight with it. Her flash fire gleamed particularly bright, flickering and flashing with barely contained flames.

The tauros finally arrived. Its head gleamed blue with psychic energy as it charged at Rhyhorn, recognizing him as the greatest threat, but it never made it. Gale slammed a razor wind into its face, forcing the pokemon that was taller than Ash a few inches back and stopping its charge.

With a bellow of rage, it turned to hit the spearow with the zen headbutt instead. Scorch leap in front instead, letting loose a ferocious scream as well as a light show. Tauros stumbled into a wall and nearly knocked it down - Ash could feel the vibrations through his bones.

The pokemon was strong. One look at the charizard and it was easy to see that the man trained his pokemon well, though Tauros didn't seem to have a strategy. It just charged. Ash could deal with that.

"Gale, try and pin it! Scorch, ember and heat wave, keep launching until something connects. Rhyhorn, go all in - you're the only one that can handle it up close." He clenched his fists as they all moved smoothly to his commands.

Gale shrieked, pumping his wings as hard as they could go. The razor wind that emerged was an enormous, screaming wall of wind that would have stopped Rhyhorn dead in his tracks. But Tauros, now that it was concentrating, merely snorted and kept moving, digging its cloven hooves into the room.

Scorch lunged forward next, constantly blurring her motions with quick attack. It was the only way she could dodge the furious stomps Tauros threw at her as she wove in front of it. Endless fireballs rained down on its shaggy fur every moment she took to breathe but nothing seemed to have any effect.

Rhyhorn did the most. He stayed quiet for once, digging his claws into the tiles for something to push off. With a roar, he pulled Tauros' attention, stopping its strike at Scorch. The bull turned to face Rhyhorn, bellowing. Its horns lowered and it began another charge.

The ground type met it head-on. The crash from their two heads colliding sent a shockwave around the room, the dull boom shaking a few sensitive zubat from their perches in the sky. Rhyhorn immediately jerked his horn up, scoring a hit across Tauros' face, but it retaliated with a tackle that nearly flipped Rhyhorn over.

It was clear. Rhyhorn was the only one who could stand up to the normal type, but he still wouldn't last long. "Scorch!" He bellowed, feeling as loud as his starter. "Distract it with will-o-wisp!"

She barked her confirmation and stopped her efforts to fry the bull, instead twitching her longest tail. That same bluish purple flame flickered through the air, Scorch's eyes flashing cerulean to control it, and paused right by Tauros' face.

It froze for the blink of an eye, considering the fireball. Gale shrieked a victory and slammed it with a charged razor wind.

Tauros grunted with annoyance, stumbling a step backward. The will-o-wisp exploded against its side, burning the fur there with its incredible heat.

Gale swooped in automatically to cover Rhyhorn as he concentrated, digging his claws into the broken tiles below before taking off. Ash could almost swear he was using extreme speed. Rhyhorn roared furiously, claws ripping through the tile as he charged. Tauros looked up just to see the ground type slam into its chest. There was the distinct sound of something cracking - but whether Tauros' skull or Rhyhorn's plates, Ash couldn't tell.

Tauros trembled in midair and Rhyhorn booked it out of there before it could enter one of the deadliest states to all pokemon, thrash, in its rage.

"Flamethrower!" Rhyhorn responded immediately, gathering heat and releasing it in a blitz of fire. The cone of scarlet slammed violently into Tauros, alighting even more of its hide, and it bellowed in rage. Flamethrower had knocked it out of the pain of its burns and now it was furious and dangerous. He would have to tread lightly.

"Charge it when you can. Gale, keep it distracted. Scorch, try to find a time for light show," he said a bit worriedly. No pokemon could pull out of Rhyhorn's charges that easily. The ground type was living, walking armor that punched with more force than most cannonballs. Whatever the man had done with his pokemon, as evidence by Tauros and the charizard, it wasn't good.

Rhyhorn rumbled back, cutting off the flamethrower and sagging slightly with exhaustion. He wasn't prepared to hold energy attacks for so long. But still, he dutifully dug his short claws into the tiles and prepared to charge, snorting out dusty breath.

Tauros moved and he charged to meet it, ripping away a few weakened pieces of marble. Gale blasting a razor wind at Tauros' back, accidentally propelling it faster but also knocking it off balance. Tauros bellowed, stumbling, and blitzed right past the ground type. Rhyhorn swerved his best to double around, almost galloping.

Scorch barked angrily and threw an ember at Rhyhorn's back. Ash frowned and reached for her pokeball - had a confuse ray got her when he didn't see her? - before he heard her apologetic yip. One look at her blazing fur and he understood - the members of her old pack all had flash fire. They didn't feel fire attacks, and she seemed to have forgotten the enormous lumbering ground type wasn't a lithe vulpine in her act to get his attention. Thankfully, Rhyhorn barely seemed to have felt it, rumbling his acceptance even as he charged in the direction she directed.

He intercepted Tauros even as it moved to avoid him. Few things couldn't stop a rhyhorn that had had time to build up its charge, and Tauros was not one of them - it flew backward, nearly three hundred pounds slamming into the ground.

Ash had barely opened his mouth to cheer a victory when he felt it.

A chill spread over the battlefield that his raging adrenaline could not cover - it slithered around like a living thing, shadows extending as even the sterile hospital lights couldn't chase them off, frostbite creeping up the walls-

Ash spun just in time to see a gastly cackle its arrival.

It was a warped picture of a pokemon. A dark grey center constantly swirling, switching sizes as easily as breathing. Two narrow white eyes, the dot of a pupil the only color, extended almost past the sphere that made up its body, its wide, fanged mouth open and sneering. Then there was the gas - hissing, spitting stuff that seemed more alive than the permanently fixed expression of dark glee on the ghost type's face.

The grunt that released it grinned a bit nervously, though she laughed when she noticed Ash's pale face. "Get him!" She cried, pointing unnecessarily at his still form.

Ash spared a moment's glance back at Tauros. Rhyhorn and it were going head-on, stabbing as best they could with their horn. He prayed his thanks to Arceus for Rhyhorn's incredibly weak nervous system - he'd definitely be unconscious without it, even with his incredible armor. Gale spat frequent razor winds to both push Rhyhorn forward or slow Tauros, though Ash knew he was waiting for the moment to get down there himself. Scorch tossed fireballs but Tauros' shaggy fur and thick fat prevented most of it from doing any damage.

"Scorch!" He shouted and was treated to her determined expression. She saw the approaching ghost type and immediately ran toward him, fur blurring into a streak with quick attack. Rhyhorn turned at the sound of his voice and growled, almost making a move to join him before Ash shook his head. "Stay there, bud! I need you to take out the tauros."

The ground type barely had time to rumble an affirmative before Tauros broke free from Gale's razor wind and bolted toward him. Gale shrieked in anger at his move failing again, a feather drifting from his furiously flapping wings.

Scorch leapt high into the air to intercept Gastly, slamming into its core and unleashing a wave of fire upon it. It hissed, gas thickening to the point it was almost opaque. Ash's eyes widened even as Scorch made a move to bite down on its exposed center. "Get back!"

She immediately fell to the ground and blurred back toward his side, yipping in confusion. But Ash kept his eyes firmly on the ghost type as its gases extended farther away from its body, reaching nearly three feet away. When that was compared to how it already hovered a couple of feet off of the ground, it was like facing something human-sized despite its center being only about two feet tall.

Ghost and poison type, notorious for destroying any hope of close fighters. If Scorch got anywhere within the range of its gases, it could overwhelm her in seconds, knocking her painfully unconscious. And that was only if he was lucky.

The grunt who controlled it laughed again, her slightly nervous expression clearing when Gastly didn't turn on her immediately. "Hypnosis!"

Ash thanked his lucky stars he had chosen Scorch. She, with her budding psychic abilities, was the only one who could hope to throw off such a move.

Gastly thrummed in discontent, almost making a move to turn back toward its 'trainer', before it shuddered and faced Scorch once again. It unleashed a seemingly wave of ghostly energy that froze Scorch in her spot before levitating lower to make eye contact. Its pure white, unearthly eyes gleamed from within like a flashlight was upon them, whispering unheard suggestions to fall asleep. Scorch shuddered and her flash fire deactivated, falling limp and cold against her reddish fur. If Ash concentrated, he could see a beam of energy appearing between his pokemon's eyes and it.

He wasn't concentrating on that, however, as he chucked a broken piece of tile at the vulpine.

She immediately yipped back to attention, skidded back an inch by the shattered marble. Scorch almost seemed dazed, movements slow, but it was clear she wasn't asleep. After a moment of shaking herself, she came back to and glared at Gastly, snarling.

It thrummed again, fangs bared. The grunt shouted wildly. "Smog! Smog! Poison it, damnit!"

Almost immediately, it dropped the outer layer of its gases. They flickered a more true purple than the greyish stuff that surrounded its body, floating idly around until Gastly got them under its control. Then they swirled around like a snake, funneling directly toward the growling Scorch.

"Heat wave. Light it up," he said a bit hesitantly. The poison was already in gaseous form which, he guessed, should only ignite upon contact with fire. It wasn't sludge bomb or anything, which would turn gaseous when under extreme heat.

The two attacks met with an explosion of heat, almost rupturing Ash's eardrums with the aftereffects. He flinched and jerked up his Platewear, the edges of heat and flame licking against his clothing but protecting his face. If he hadn't had the armor, it would have been a painful and deadly thing to be hit by. He waited a long moment before lowering his arms again.

Gastly wailed as extra flames licked along its outer gases, nearly igniting them before it controlled itself with deadly precision. Its eyes flashed toward Scorch, honing in on her life energy to find her.

"Night shade," the grunt shouted, hands cupped around her mouth. She seemed to want to jitter all over the place.

Ash paid her no mind, eyes firmly focused on the pokemon in front of him. Scorch was zipping around Gastly with quick attack, keeping it distracted while Ash tried to come up with a counterattack. He strung together some attacks and hoped she understood them. "Quick charge!"

There was a moment of hesitation as she pieced together the combo before she reactivated flash fire and then lit it up once again. Flame charge was fast but now she was faster, blitzing around the field like a fireball herself. She kept circling until Gastly was too slow to keep its eyes on her and she struck, slamming into it with an explosion of light and heat before immediately leaping back. The Rocket member howled her anger and Scorch matched it, paws dancing over the cracked tiles nimbly, almost scampering over the imploded trench they'd made from their explosion.

Gastly shrieked, but Ash for the first time realized that its mouth hadn't moved. It bared its fangs and closed its maw for hypnosis, but he'd never actually seen its mouth move alongside its noises. He didn't take the time to focus on it, gritting his teeth as he tried to find a strategy to take the ghost down.

It was clear now that while it was powerful and deadly, it was in the wrong hands and didn't have nearly the arsenal it needed to be a honed weapon. The grunt wasn't taking advantage of ghost's most powerful tool, shadow travel, treating it like any other normal type pokemon. She was ignoring its unique 'sixth sense' for living pokemon as well as the unstable nature of its corporeal form. He needed to knock it out before it decided it wanted to be in charge of the battle.

"Roar and ember. Keep it up until it drops," he instructed quietly, almost kneeling to allow her and only her to hear the commands. Though, with the way the grunt was raging about the turning tide of the battle, he doubted she could hear.

Scorch barked in confirmation before darting over the field, ears pinned back and tails waving in tight circles to keep her balance. After a moment, she slammed her front paws onto the ground and skidded to a stop as a blast of shadowed energy leeched over the tiles in front of her, seeming to permanently stain them a faded grey. Ghostly energy interacted strangely with this world.

Gastly hissed from its failed night shade, mouth still fixed in its unnerving grin. It bobbed a few inches higher at its commander's instructions, preparing a second hypnosis.

Scorch never gave it the chance. Sucking in a deep breath, she released a piercing screech that immediately made Gastly flinch, even with its terrible hearing. Four rapid fire embers streamed from the tips of her tails, slamming against its center. Gastly shrieked again.

Ash took the spare moment to look back at the battle with Tauros. The bull pokemon looked worse for wear but it was far from done. Its fur was ripped in several places, Gale's sharp beak proving useful yet again. Numerous stab holes littered its chest and side from Rhyhorn's horn but even as blood dripped against the ground it didn't seem to care, bellowing lowly before jumping into the fray again.

Gale tucked his wings and swerved to avoid a jabbed horn, reopening them quickly to fly up as high as he could in the cramped space. His usual incredible acrobatic maneuvers were useless in this enclosed space and by his more furious than normal shrieks, he was feeling it. The half a dozen or so feathers that littered the ground and the careful way he extended his right wing showed the cost.

Rhyhorn was hardly better. One of his spines was cracked along the top, an enormous sliver simply gone. Other cracks and breaks littered his form, several looking like they'd pierced all the way to his nerves. At this point, he was most definitely feeling every scratch that didn't hit a completely uninjured area. But still he lunged forward, jabbing and stomping as best he could at the furious bull.

Ash turned back just as Scorch launched two more embers, forced to cut off the others as Gastly dove at her, attempting to get her caught in its gases. The grunt was messing up, nervous and scared as she was - smog or hypnosis would have been much better. Gastly was following her orders seemingly without hesitation but a darker glint flashed in its endless white eyes.

Scorch yipped and backpedaled - Gastly dove right into the ground with a hiss. Its gases exploded over the field, trickling into the ground, only to reemerge from the grunt's shadow. She squeaked, leaping away, shouting another command for the ghost type to follow. But Ash saw the look in its eyes - if either one of them didn't end the battle soon, it was going to take control itself.

The grunt realized that as well.

Ash saw her mouth move but didn't hear what she was saying. The results came to him soon enough.

Gastly shrieked, wide mouth extending past its center and flickering against its gases. Its shining eyes gleamed past its closed eyelids and sheer power dripped around the room - something violent was happening.

Ash saw it almost in slow motion as the outer edges of Gastly's gas caught on fire.

The flames burned a violent purple as they slowly spread down toward its center, the ghost type screeching with every inch. There was only one move that could match what was happening in front of him. Explosion.

Gale heard his shout, desperately flying away from Tauros and turning toward the bigger threat. Scorch fell back to cover the still-charging normal type but that wasn't Ash's concern. Gale did his best to make a u-turn, pumping his wings in the cramped room, but he wasn't going to make it in time-

A brilliant flash of white light lit up the room. Gale shrieked victoriously, soaring over the blinded grunts as every inch of him burning with a ferocious light. Brown feathers fell to the ground as new ones grew in the blink of an eye, burning with fire-

Instead of a spearow, a fearow exploded through the air and hit Gastly dead on before it could use one of the most deadly moves known to the world. There was no hesitation as it sank to the ground, levitation canceled in its unconsciousness. The gases burnt from explosion trickled through the air.

Gale squawked, flapping his wings once. The shockwave of wind that left his gleaming feathers dispersed all of it in a second.

Ash couldn't help the incredulous grin that spread over his face at the sight of his evolved friend. Gale had nearly tripled in height, from the two-foot tall scrawny bird into a master of the skies. His beak flashed like a sword in the burning lights, black eyes covered by a brilliant red crest. His talons gouged enormous marks into the mostly destroyed tiles as he landed, releasing the scrape of metal against stone. A jagged x of white feathers stood on his back. But nothing could hide that same aggression and pride in his eyes.

The grunt recalled Gastly with a squeak and made a move to grab from the other pokeballs on her belt, but Gale never gave her the chance. With a shriek that sounded more like a roar, he extended one enormous wing and slammed it against her head. She toppled like a cut tree and connected solidly with the ground.

"Gale?" Ash said, a grin creeping across his face. The avian turned to him, all his power brimming beneath the surface. He would be on a buzz from the evolution energy for nearly ten minutes - Ash needed to milk that before the adrenaline wore off and he would actually need to get used to his body. "Get the tauros. You can do it."

Gale shrieked and took off. He could only flap his wings perhaps twice before skimming the ceiling, which he pushed off from with a disgruntled shriek. Ash couldn't help but notice his preen as several grunts stared at him with wide eyes, smacking a lone golbat out of the air with one talon.

Tauros barely had a moment to look up before Gale fell upon it.

The bull bellowed from the weight, skidding to a stop. Nearly seventy pounds had just crashed down on it, all centered around eight dagger-like talons digging into its back.

Its three thin tails whipped against Gale's tail, only annoying him. He let out a squawk, rearing up even as he kept his talons tightly enclosed over the entirety of Tauros' back. Flapping his wings once for momentum, he stabbed his sword-like beak directly into the back of Tauros' neck.

It pierced through immediately. Tauros bellowed and shrieked, thrashing, but eventually it slumped over, blood flowing thickly from its many wounds and dripping over the fearow's beak. Gale shrieked a victory call and clambered ungracefully off, flaring his wings for balance and nearly smacking Ash away.

The tauros was enveloped in a surge of scarlet light and sucked away. A dark snarl on his face, the man with the purple mohawk reattached the pokeball to his waist. Another one was missing, clasped in his other hand, his finger pressed mockingly to its release.

His scowl twisted into an expression of shock as Surge's shout echoed over the room. "Fucking finally!"

Ash could only watch with wide eyes as the ferocious charizard, the thing of fire-spewing nightmares, let out a shriek of pure rage and anger. Surge, his jolteon missing, Jenny with two arcanine and several other pokemon, and nearly three other trainers stared endlessly as the pokemon slowly began to fall. It was covered in endless wounds, electric burns coating its wings and dripping in water and steam. Raichu chittered darkly, brimming with satisfaction, and snapped one last bolt of electricity. The charizard shrieked with pain and toppled.

The man actually growled, quickly recalling his second pokemon. The second the red covered the charizard's scales, Surge was moving; spriting easily over the few fallen pokemon and shattered holes through the tiles. His eyes were narrowed with concentration.

With a flash of scarlet light, Ash barely had time to see a hulking, monstrous alakazam before the man disappeared alongside it in a flash of white light. He blinked spots out of his eyes as Surge swung a fist at where the man had been, cursing vividly.

The grunts of the room seemed far less confident once their leader had left. More than a few shot desperate looks toward the three doors in the back, visibly twitching towards it. Others resigned themselves to their fate, pulling the last of their pokeballs off of their belt and shouting orders to their last pokemon.

Surge didn't care.

Now that his pokemon weren't taking out the biggest threats, he unleashed them upon the grunts of the room. Raichu darted around the room like a living bolt of lighting, zapping endlessly with the perfect amount of control. The electrive simply lumbered along, lacking the speed but packing more of a punch - each of its moves left its opponent twitching on the ground.

Jenny leapt to attention and Ash did so as well. Rhyhorn charged toward a small pack of raticate, ignoring his many injuries to stomp and horn attack them until they weren't a problem. Most went down in less than two hits, and their fury swipes did little to Rhyhorn's armor. The grunts fled the moment he turned his dark scarlet gaze upon them.

Scorch had been the least injured up until Gale evolved, her small size and speed keeping her away from most attacks. The daze from hypnosis was still present but she pushed past it to blur toward a weakened victreebel, blasting it with embers even before it noticed her charge.

Gale took a moment to awkwardly extend his wings, flapping them a few times to get used to the size. His wingspan as a spearow was about three feet, maybe more, but now it was proportional to a bird that ruled the skies. No longer would he have the notice in the pokedex that he wasn't built for long flights - now he was created for them, made for them, lived for them. Few would stand up to him now.

He shrieked with pride and took off clumsily, the adrenaline already wearing off. The same burst of speed even as he fell was enough to launch him straight into several ekans, crushing one beneath his talons as he landed.

Jenny let the wanton destruction continue for a few moments longer before blowing a fierce whistle. The shrill shriek of the tool echoed around the room for a moment and each task force officer - Ash and Surge included - paused in their battles. Each of their pokemon made a final move to at least incapacitate, if not knock out, their opponents before turning to listen as well.

"Surrender!" She bellowed, voice booming around the room. There was silence.

One grunt shakingly raised his hands. His pokeballs fell with a thud from his fingers, rolling slightly until an officer's pokemon caught them with its psychic abilities.

After that, everything moved.

Countless grunts surrendered, especially as Surge leered mockingly in their faces, Raichu perched smartly on his shoulders and sparking. More and more pokeballs joined the ground, rolling around until they were quickly caught by the nearest psychic. Defeated pokemon were recalled and still-struggling ones were knocked out, mostly by Jenny's fierce arcanine. Injured officers were teleported quickly out, their pokemon put in stasis for the moment. At Jenny's furious typing, several League alakazam teleported into the room and began to take the prisoners out. Their pokeballs were taken far away from them.

Ash clasped a hand over his chest as people raced around him, trying to calm his racing heart just by touching it. Rhyhorn lumbered closer, pressing his head against Ash's thigh and rumbling comfortably. Scorch stood quietly next to him, nursing her front left paw. Gale squawked angrily as he tried to make his way over, stumbling more times than Ash could count. It brought a laugh to his lips.

A hand landed on his shoulder, and he turned to make eye contact with Surge. The giant had a cut across his eyebrow and light burns across his face, no doubt from the charizard, but his grin was as boisterous as ever.

"Not bad, runt. Ain't going to lie." Surge glanced over the ruined tiles and knocked out pokemon. "You weren't shit."

Ash beamed.

xXx

"You're still an idiot," Officer Jenny sighed, dragging one of her hands over her face. She let her elbows land harshly on the edges of her desk, sprawled out over her wide chair as she was.

Directly after successfully getting all of the grunts that hadn't teleported out into holding cells for the League to pick up, Officer Jenny had just about frogmarched him to her office. Then she had shut the door and immediately collapsed in her chair, wearily unbuckling her Platewear and setting it on the ground. She was covered in more injuries than Surge, scratches and burns littering her exposed hands and face.

Ash waited rather patiently in his chair, fiercely aware of the three pokeballs that were being taken to the Pokemon Center alongside the officer's pokemon. He had made sure that someone knew that Gale had just evolved and needed to be checked out, but with the influx of injured pokemon she was receiving, Ash didn't know when she'd be able to get to them.

"But?" He grinned.

She shot him a glare but it was half-hearted, and the edges of her lips were twitching. "But. Without you, we might have had to blow up the center to find the base and most of the grunts would have teleported out by then. Good job."

Jenny shuffled around several papers on her desk, the exhaustion bleeding off her form as she held it at bay through her sheer willpower. "Surge is going to explain most of it to you and give you your reward, but I dragged you in here to give you a congratulation myself."

Ash knew the hair on his arms and face was singed and that he was grimy and dirty and dusty, but he still felt brilliant. His team had pulled a victory with difficult odds and he couldn't be more proud of them. This speech only confirmed it.

"Vermillion City is indebted to you, though don't let it get to your head. Nurse Joy streamlined your pokemon to the front of the line, behind critical care patients of course, and they should be fixed up by late tonight or tomorrow."

She flicked a stray paperclip off of the desk, fixing him with a quick glance. "I've got top-of-the-line security cameras in here, so there's no need to go to the interrogation rooms. Just tell me everything you know about the Celadon City base and what led you to discover the one here."

Ash took the offered water bottle, drank deeply, and began.

He could hear thudding noises from beyond the office as he finished up his explanation, the sounds of a quiet argument happening outside. Jenny's face twisted into a soft scowl, though Ash knew it wasn't directed at him. She gave him a moment to breathe after finishing, asking a few clarifying questions and letting him confirm a few statements.

With a sigh, she brushed back a lock of her hair and pressed a button on her desk nearly hidden by a stack of paperwork. Ash heard a buzzer outside the office and almost immediately the door banged open, revealing a man with several bandages wrapped around his extremities. Surge grinned and stomped inside, shooting a pleased look at Officer Jenny's steadily deepening scowl.

"Glad you finished up quick," he said, almost half of his face visible as burned in the clearer light and his already ruffled sideburns singed. "Just escaped Joy, and I'll be taking this little runt with me."

Jenny sighed again but didn't fight it - she had already gotten everything she needed. "Send it off to Ms. Joy when you finish," she instructed. "And I will raise hell if you start giving him all of his rewards tonight."

He let out a burst of barked laughter. "Guilty as charged, Jen. I'll bring 'im tomorrow in one piece, bet your ass on it."

Then, reaching forward to grab a hold of Ash's shoulder, he jerked the boy up out of the chair and out of the office.

Most of the officers in the building were missing, although a few were trickling back in. One woman was having a burn around her upper arm wrapped by someone Ash recognized as one of Nurse Joy's assistants, carefully drinking a glass of water and leaning against a table to keep steady. Surge kept one hand on his back and carefully steered him around the desks and chairs, nodding jerkily to the doorman before they left.

A crowd was gathered outside, shouting questions as soon as Sure emerged. Ash blinked as the flash of a camera hit him right in the eye, but Surge merely growled and started to push his way through the civilians. Ash didn't wait up, doing his best to stay directly behind the giant.

The two guards at the entrance had their hands constantly on their pokemon and were watching the crowd of people with barely contained disgust. They snapped to attention as Surge approached, giving him a quick rundown of the people that had tried to get in. Surge's scowl was truly impressive and Ash guessed that he'd only have to look at the enormous swinging doors before they'd open themselves out of fright.

A moment later and they were inside the gym. Surge yawned rather mightily, scratching at a crisp white bandage around his upper shoulder. He half turned to Ash. "Come along, runt. Don't have all day."

Ash trotted next to the man as he walked toward the back, the sounds of the crowd beyond the doors fading quickly. A referee in the back saluted Surge as he came close, but he waved him off and pushed through one of the tall doors in the back. Ash followed as quickly as he could.

It was a wide room, seemingly an office for the man, though it didn't seem like it saw that much use. The desk was longer than Jenny's and marked with random, crumpled papers, random splotches of ink scattered over its surface. Surge kicked the chair and it swiveled to accept his weight as he collapsed in it, still grinning.

Ash sat down on the other side, more than slightly curious as to what the man wanted with him. Officer Jenny had said reward, and he would be lying if he didn't say his mind hadn't stuck on that particular train of thought.

"Why'd you call me in here?"

Surge glared at him for interrupting what must have been a brilliant introduction before sighing. "Well kid, here's the thing. Sure, you fought around like everybody else but you're also three, four years younger than them at the minimum. Your team of three did sometimes what their team of seven couldn't. So Jenny n' I talked and we decided you should get another pokemon as a reward. Team Rocket has a surplus of pokemon and hell, one of them might work with you."

Ash blinked, eyes wide. There had been a number of powerful pokemon he had fought today, and he could remember a fair few he wouldn't mind training. "I thought I was supposed to get a small reward?"

"Well." Surge grinned, holding his thumb and pointer finger a few inches apart. "A pokeball's pretty short. Thought that should be plenty small enough."

He took one look at the man's smug face and couldn't help but laugh. He should have expected this - it was Surge. The man lived to break expectations. And also to break those that laid down the expectations.

Surge frowned, though, and kept speaking. "Course, we've got a limit on the pokemon you can actually take. You remember the growlithe? It'll take us near month or so to flush out all of the drugs in its system and then some to rehabilitate it. Can't get any that the bastards pumped full."

"But I thought all Rocket pokemon were drugged?"

"That's what we all thought, too." Surge scratched his stubble, giving Ash a once-over. He apparently deemed him worthy because he kept talking. "See, we captured 'bout 42 pokemon from the grunts themselves and then another 96 in storage. Took us a while to figure it out, but there's a pattern to the pokemon that were drugged - with a few exceptions."

His face turned grim. "Viper's little monsters were high as a kite. Didn't need to capture them to see it - you saw that charizard and battled his tauros. Raging chargers with no sense of self-preservation. 'Course, we can't confirm it, because we didn't capture the piece of shit, but we hardly need to."

"But for every other pokemon, there were only a few types that were actually drugged. The rest were under some sort of psychic block in their mind, something that brings out the bad. Basically brainwashed. And here's the kicker."

"Most of those damn pokemon were weak or unevolved, which is a piece of candy for a strong enough psychic type. Alakazam, probably. Common as shit in the right areas. But these mental barriers are foolproof. Tight. I'm guessing an alakazam could do two, maybe three before passing out for a coupla days. So either they've got the strongest psychic in the world or more alakazam than we can count."

Ash tried to wrap his head around the information being thrown at him. It seems Rick's speech about a useless Team Rocket was passing farther and farther out of usefulness. "What types were drugged?"

Surge counted off his fingers. "Fire, electric, rock, dark, and steel. Every single one was out of their damned minds. The psychic blocked ones at least were more self-preserving; not that it's saying much."

"So!" He clapped his hands together, forcing Ash back into reality. "Any other pokemon that ain't drugged can be yours. Probably will take us a couple of days, week at the most if they're really shitty to us, to break through the barrier, and then some light analysis to see whether it's safe to journey. Any that stuck out?"

Ash frowned, thinking back. Most of the pokemon he had fought we hardly enough to remember. The tauros, of course, had been ridiculously powerful and he had barely been able to fight it off with all of his team. Koffing and raticate were common enough he could capture one of his own. The several other ekans, persian, and cubone were grouped together in his mind - he couldn't differentiate between them.

But there had been one.

"The gastly," he said, before clarifying. "One of the grunts had it - a woman, I think. Brown hair."

Surge grunted. "Beside that being spectacularly undescriptive, you're in luck. I know what little fucker you're talking about. Another issue."

"See, the way we've been attempting to break the psychic barriers so far is with psychics. For the most part, it's easy. Alakazam spends a few days mapping out its brain so it can find the block, then snip and we're out. But gastly are ghost types. You're lucky it's got a poison type as well - alakazam can get it through its poison sacs. I'm going to need a backup in case it doesn't work."

Ash frowned. That gastly had been one of the most incredible battlers beside the tauros, and he would hate to watch it slip by. "The persian, then. I don't know who its grunt was."

"Third issue." Surge ticked off a finger. "You ever wonder why Lavender Town's Pokemon Tower ain't exactly open to all? Rule is three badges at the minimum and an evaluation from an Officer Jenny. Ghosts are tricky business. So I'll have to get Jenny's permission before giving you it."

His frown deepened. While the rule made sense - ghost types had the highest chance to rebel against their trainers, with dark only a little behind and psychic running third - that didn't mean he didn't think he was ready for the gastly.

Surge scratched his stubble, a fierce grin on his face. "No need to look so damn disappointed. You just fought against Team Rocket and held your own. If need be, I'll send in Hypno and she'll kick your little ghost type's ass and break the barrier at the same time. She got plenty of experience fighting ghost types down in Alola."

Ash grinned, excitement revitalized, before he frowned. "Wait, what do you mean? Alola?"

There was a long pause.

Surge's dark eyes were incredibly sharp, piercing straight through Ash as he made quiet eye contact. A million billion thoughts ran across the man's eyes and Ash couldn't catch a single one of them - he sat there with the hairs rising on the back of his neck, uncomfortable but refusing to show his confusion. Moments that seemed like hours clicked by, the quiet the only sound.

After a millennium, Surge finally moved. His eyes showed a flash of respect before going blank. He spoke again. "Yeah, Alola. They're the shittiest fighters of all the regions, which makes sense given they don't even have gym leaders and they only just made an actual League with the tournament. They couldn't even handle their own war."

Ash jerked but Surge steamrolled on. "Called on Kanto to clean up their shitty dirty work. Bastards. I only like a few of 'em and I spent near two years fightin' over there. Kukui at least apologized and gave some pretty damn nice rewards, though, and he's not a bad battler. Gladion ain't shit, at least once he up and left those damned islands and came over here. Kiawe's too annoying to enjoy."

Surge snorted like he had made a joke. While there was amusement in his voice, there was something darker, only a touch away from anxiety; he had never expected to hear that from the boisterous man. Surge had full-well known what he was talking about, despite nothing of it making sense. They held their eye contact, bright against confused, for a few moments longer before Surge straightened up. A grin slid onto place on his face like it had always been there.

"Jenny'll kick some asses into gear and start getting some pokemon broken free. Come back tomorrow for more of an update, but she'll do her best to throttle me if I don't send you off to the nurse right 'bout now. Is that a pokedex?"

Ash hadn't expected the man to recognize but again, it was Professor Oak that had made it. He nodded.

"Gimme." Surge snapped his fingers until Ash handed it over, flicking open a document and typing in several words. "That's the person you should see for getting your rhyhorn all fitted out. You won't be going back to Celadon, or anywhere else, until after we get this whole damn mess fixed out. I'll let you try and convince Hypno to send you to whatever gym you want to fight next."

Ash smiled. That was a lot more than he had hoped for. It would have been an annoying trip to either Fuschia or Cerulean, though he wasn't sure what he wanted to fight in next. He was leaning toward Cerulean, if only just for the fact he would be fighting their real teams.

Gym trainers weren't technically allowed to curbstomp brand new trainers on their first badge. Well, they most definitely were, but they weren't allowed to use their real teams. The generally accepted thing to do was raise a kid or two of their main team and use that on everyone with less than three badges, although a few gym leaders - Giovanni and Blaine, mostly - just didn't allow anyone below three in. But now that he had gotten that sacred number, gym leaders' real teams were going to be unleashed on him. From what he had heard, the Sensational Sisters hadn't had a workout in a long while. He wanted to be the one to do it.

But before he stood up, he frowned. Something had stuck out to him from Surge's parting words - beyond the crazy Alola mention and talk of war, of all things. "Why do you use a hypno? I thought you mostly training electric types."

"My family's tradition. She's my first pokemon- mom and pops wanted me to follow in their footsteps of a Maindo psychic trainer. Never really stuck." He shrugged. "No gym leader is contained to their type, runt. Everybody got's monsters, and now that you've got three badges you're going to be facing them, whether they're the right type or not."

Then the man fully sagged against his chair and glared fiercely until Ash said his thanks and left. Nurse Joy was waiting.

xXx

In the end, it didn't take very much to get him all fixed up. While he hadn't noticed it before, he didn't have too much hair on his arms or legs - perks of having a fire type - and the Platewear had protected what else remained. The burns along the edges of his face were easily touched up with a modified burn heal and Nurse Joy had slapped several bandages over his light scratches and declared him good.

His pokemon, not so much. While Officer Jenny had allowed full restores on his pokemon, Gale was already going to be contained in the Pokemon Center for the next day or two to be checked up after his evolution and there wasn't much point in only giving full restores to two of his pokemon. Evolution reacted strangely with some of the more powerful medicines. So Nurse Joy would give Rhyhorn and Scorch a lessened version and keep them overnight. They'd be tender for the next couple of days but Ash wasn't going to be battling much anyway. Rhyhorn would probably take a day or two to regenerate his spines, at least right up until they were sandpapered away to make room for riding.

But still, that night, it was cold and quiet in his room. He had been allowed to see Gale, hooked up to half a dozen monitoring systems and looking decidedly displeased in the cramped hospital room, but only for five minutes before they kicked him out. Rhyhorn and Scorch were still in stasis.

His room felt empty without the snoring Rhyhorn next to him. He felt cold with the pressing warmth of Scorch on his. His room felt almost unsafe without Gale's fierce territorial spirit, even while asleep.

So instead, he pulled out his pokedex, putting on the quiet background noise of dripping rain to try and calm his restless nerves. He found the search bar and typed in Alola.

Ash already knew what the region was, though it was the second most remote in the world, Kalos right behind it. Alola was rumored to have one of the strangest climates out there, cold enough several species of pokemon evolved to be ice types while still be warm enough to be classified as a tropical oasis. He paused at the picture of a snow-white vulpix, covered in thick fluffy fur and piercing blue eyes. It was cuter than Scorch was with its extra poof of snowstorm-ready fur.

But there weren't any mentions of war. He was restricted to only Kanto documents on his current version of a pokedex but it still didn't give him much. From what he could tell, Alola was one of the most peaceful regions with something called 'ride pokemon', which weren't even captured by a trainer.

Ash trusted Surge more than he trusted these pages. There had been a war.

It took him a long while to fall asleep.

xXx

Rhyhorn rumbled in confusion as he was released, looking around. His scarlet eyes flashed with mistrust as they landed on Jorge, the man Surge had recommended, and he moved to stand protectively in front of Ash.

Ash smiled and scratched between the thick plates of armor. He had been released early this morning, though he wasn't completely healed. But still, he was a fearsome sight to see. Now that he was fully grown, his plates were thick enough they rubbed almost constantly against each other, releasing endless waves of dust and dirt into the cracks between them. While Rhyhorn would never enjoy taking baths and getting wet, he thoroughly looked forward to the nights Ash would sit there with a brush and dig out every last chunk for completely unhindered movement.

Jorge raised his hands in submission, a gentle grin on his face. "Whoa there, big guy. Ash here just hired me to get you rideable."

Rhyhorn immediately perked up, his spines rumbling together. Ash knew him well enough to know that his rumble was of excitement rather than a threat, but Jorge, despite being so laidback, still seemed wary as he walked carefully around the ground type.

"He's a good size," he admitted. "Less than half a year old but I wouldn't doubt that he's going to evolve before the year's out. Whatever training you've been doing has nailed it - his plates are very cleanly developed. And his spines! While you could have done a better job filing them, they've naturally developed the beginnings of the notch right here." He mimed his hand over the dip in Rhyhorn's spines, careful not to touch them.

"Yeah, he's perfect for riding right now. Of course, you can't do it for too long while he gets used to the weight, but this is actually a great exercise for training. Strengthens their legs, back, overall muscle mass, as well as helping with mobility if you sit up there long enough. You a trainer or a racer?"

"Trainer." Jorge seemed pleased with that answer, a thoughtful furrow between his eyebrows appearing.

He hummed quietly. "Then I've got a couple more options I can do. See, I'm sure you've noticed he can't do too much with his claws right now, not until he becomes bipedal. But I can still sharpen them, as they're pretty dull right now. I don't think they learn too many moves to do with their paws right now but it's better to be safe than sorry. I can also smooth the edges around his face plates, giving him a bit of a break from erosion, though it won't last that long. Again, both of those are extra options, but they'll not only help your pokemon in battle but also everyday comfort."

Ash nodded his head. While he wasn't completely sold, it was a promising aspect. "What are you going to do to let me ride him?"

"Ah!" Jorge visibly perked up, reaching into one of his many pockets and pulling out a sheet of paper jostled against nearly a dozen others. This was a store all about outfitting rideable pokemon. Once it was unfolded, a large diagram of a rhyhorn was revealed. Each of its plates were colored a different hue, scientific names printed neatly beside them.

"I'll be doing most of the work on the shuyogakuis - sorry, the main spine. Boss man crammed so many fancy words in my head I sometimes forget no one else can speak them." He grinned easily. "Anyway, what I'll mainly be doing is deepening that notch that's already beginning to form. I'll widen it a bit as well, but it's always going to be a tight fight. Don't ride bareback unless you want to lose something very important to you," he warned.

Jorge laughed at Ash's wince. "Yeah, a lesson everyone needs to learn. Rhyhorn are ground types - they aren't exactly soft. An arcanine, that's a different story. But yeah. So I'll make a little hollow a bit behind his shoulders, as that's the safest spot, and you'll be able to slide in easily."

Ash grinned, touching along the edge of the spine. He had been excited to ride on his starter ever since they had made eye contact all those days ago in the Viridian Trainer School, lumbering around on his beast of a ground type. While the cost would deplete most of his saved funds, Surge had slipped in several hints about some monetary rewards for helping them out, and that should still allow him to buy some new supplies.

"I'll do it. The claws and smoothing out his facial plate as well. When do you think you can finish?"

Jorge hummed, placing a hand on his jaw. "With his size, probably a day or so if you want a good, quality job. We have a contract for you to make sure you're okay with leaving your pokemon here with us, as well as an expected time of finish. But we know you trainers don't exactly have access to a phone, so we'll send a messenger to drop him off at the Pokemon Center an hour after we finish. If you can't trust Nurse Joy to hold onto him, well, I'm not sure who you can."

Ash grinned and nodded. Jorge went to fetch the contract while Ash knelt by his starter, locking eyes.

"Okay, bud. It won't be for very long, but I need you to stay with him while he works on your spines."

Rhyhorn rumbled immediately, bumping his head against Ash's knee and shifting him back a few inches. Ash rubbed a few more pieces of rock out from around his face plate until he calmed, keeping his voice quiet.

"I know. We just fought against a criminal organization - and don't think I still can't believe it! - and now I want to leave you. But I'll have Scorch with me at all times and then Gale once Nurse Joy releases him from her clutches."

Rhyhorn snorted in amusement before butting his head against Ash's side one more time, making an almost whine. But when Jorge reappeared and Ash signed the contract, giving over enough money to make his budget weep, he did follow the man. Ash would be keeping his pokeball for safety reasons, and they had several stalls out back for Rhyhorn to sleep in overnight. He had to fork over an extra ten for pokemon food, though.

He was quiet watching the back of his best friend disappear into the back of the shop. While it was easy to see a growlithe or an eevee feeling love and affection for their trainer, sometimes people forgot that even the less cute or cuddly pokemon could feel the same deep, ripping emotions. Ash knew that the loyalty between him and Rhyhorn was not anything to be broken.

Nothing could break it.

xXx

Ash grinned and ran on. Nurse Joy had received a message from Jorge about twenty minutes ago and he had barely taken any time to apologize for stopping his brushing of Scorch before he was packed up and running through the streets of Vermillion City, arms pumping by his side. It was early enough in the morning that he was able to storm his way through more of the city without having to run through too many groups of people.

Jorge came out to greet him, grinning at the trainer's quite obvious nervousness. "Your rhyhorn was perfectly fine throughout the whole process, though we had to bribe him with some passho berries to get him to eat. Some loyalty you've got there, eh?"

Ash only smiled and waited. Jorge laughed.

"I'll lead you over to our back area and show you how to ride him. Shouldn't be too difficult to pick up. We've got some more intense riding courses, though those are more for professional racers."

He disappeared back inside the store, pausing for a minute to write down something on the desk, probably confirming Ash's arrival. Ash trotted in nervously after him, tapping along Rhyhorn's pokeball. The store was a cool safe space against the powerful summer heat of the seaside town and he enjoyed walking around to glance at the various products. Jorge reappeared from a back room and waved his hand for Ash to follow him, which he quickly did.

The back was a thin hallway with four pokemon rooms along the sides, outfitted with warm beds and large food bowls. Jorge led him along to the second one of the row, revealing a bulky ground type sprawled over the floor, head resting against the cold floor and pressed against the glass door, as close to the opening as he could be.

The very moment Jorge came into view, Rhyhorn's eyes snapped open. When Ash arrived as well, he sprang to his feet and slammed his head against the glass, which shuddered violently. Ash held up a hand and Rhyhorn stopped his eager assault, though it was clear he could have shattered the glass door had he wished to.

"Easy, big guy. Your trainer's here," Jorge said almost conversationally, unlatching the door and pulling it open. Rhyhorn lumbered out, giving Ash a clear view of his back.

His main spine, a rippled fearsome thing, smoothly curved downward. It created a pocket about a foot and a half deep, the thick plate smoothed over enough to almost look like glass. There were a few divups along his back for Ash's feet, but rhyhorn had been bred to bare riders over hundreds of years.

Jorge jerked his finger. "Field's out back. It isn't the biggest but it should be good enough to get the basic hang of it."

Ash finished touching along Rhyhorn's spine before standing, gesturing for his starter to follow him. A door in the back led him to an admittedly small backyard, but getting anything in the city was impressive. It was mostly blank grass, a few berry bushes lining the sides. A mounting block stood by the door.

Rhyhorn lumbered over to stand next to it, pausing for a moment. Ash clambered up onto the mounting block, very thankful for it - without the extra height it provided, he would have had to try and jump nearly three feet and land perfectly to get on him.

"You have to spread your legs out," Jorge instructed. "Don't worry about being able to direct him. He isn't like a ponyta - no matter how hard you kick him, he isn't going to feel it. So all of your commands have to be verbal. By putting your heels in the holes- yeah, those two right there - you'll be able to stay on while he charges. Trust me, it hurts more falling off than staying on. Are those your thickest pants?"

Ash nodded, brushing a hand over his jeans. He hadn't bought any winter supplies to avoid wasting valuable storage space, and these were the thickest he owned. He hoped they would be enough.

Rhyhorn rumbled comfortably as Ash lowered himself over his starter's back. His plates were cool to the touch but after a moment, he could feel the barest hints of Rhyhorn's body heat worming their way through the thick plates. It wasn't entirely comfortable, but nor was it uncomfortable. He guessed it would take some getting used to.

Jorge directed him on where to grab and how to dismount. He got on and off a few times until he felt comfortable doing it, even trying it without the mounting block. But then, once he was safely secured, he gave his first command. "Walk?"

Rhyhorn rumbled with excitement and began to plod forward, getting used to the new weight himself. Ash trembled almost violently until he managed to hook his heels in just right and stabilized. It was incredibly strange to feel the vibrations of the earth rising up through the ground type to meet him, Rhyhorn's sheer control over it even at his young age obvious.

At Ash's voice, he sped up. Jorge stepped back as Rhyhorn began trotting in a wide circle, making sure to keep his movements calculated. The glee infected both of them. "Charge!"

Rhyhorn bellowed with excitement and started to run around the field, head lowered and claws ripping at the earth. Ash yelped as even his heels couldn't stop the shaking and fell quite dramatically to the side, twisting away from Rhyhorn's form as he landed. Rhyhorn immediately ground to a stop as he felt his weight leave him, turning around and crooning a question.

Ash spat out a clod of dirt, looked up at Rhyhorn, and laughed.

xXx

Even Surge couldn't summon a barking laugh once he directed Ash to one of the working rooms of the various psychics working to break Team Rocket's blocks. It was a small room, perhaps ten by ten feet, and almost completely bare. An alakazam stood in one corner, both spoons extended and eyes glowing. Several large pokemon constantly patrolled around all of the rooms, though there was some extra protection about the ghost type's room. Ash could see the gleaming red eyes of a haunter in an officer's shadow. It would give chase if Gastly tried to escape through shadow travel.

Gastly, however, looked in no condition to be escaping. It was deeply unconscious, placed under hypnosis at all times. Its ragged body sagged against the ground, flattening out almost, and its gases only extended two inches away from its center, weak and almost transparent.

"We're only a day in," Surge said quietly, somber. Each of the rooms had broken, beaten pokemon that had been tortured by Team Rocket, and the mood infecting everyone was far from happy. "Alakazam there has found his way in through its poison sacs but it's pretty much a touch and go. If he pushes too hard, the ghostly energy will force him out and if he goes too slow it'll swallow his probe. We've made decent progress so far, though."

Ash couldn't muster a response as he looked at the defeated pokemon in front of him. It was a vivid difference from the cackling, hissing beast he had fought off with Scorch.

He worked up his voice. "What about the other pokemon?"

"Easier." Officer Jenny marched forward, flanked by two scientists that Ash guessed were overseeing the process. "We've managed to map out the basics of an ekans' mind and my guess is only a day or so until the block is broken. Surge, why'd you bring the kid here?"

Ash was starting to take offense at being called kid all the time. "My name is Ash Ketchum," he said as winningly as he could. She shot him a glare, but it didn't pack her regular punch.

"I know that. Surge filled me in. The point still stands - what are you doing here? We're not even close to breaking that gastly's block."

Surge shrugged. "Kid deserves to see what we're doing to get him that pokemon. Besides, I've got something at the gym to show him. This is just a pitstop."

"Well, finish up quickly and head on over. I trust you did take him to Nurse Joy last night?"

Ash held up his wrist, which still had a bandage over it. She glanced down at him and seemed to realize from his disgruntled expression that he didn't quite appreciate being spoken of instead of to. One of her officers touched the edge of her shoulder, jolting her back into reality. They whispered something in her ear and the three of them were off, moving quickly through the seemingly endless corridor of glassed rooms.

Surge snorted in amusement, clapping him on the shoulder. "I wasn't lying about showing you something. A mutual acquaintance of ours called me in to give me a suggestion. He apparently thought pretty high of your little battle in Saffron and is slightly pissed you aren't listening to his suggestion. Ring a bell?"

Ash blinked. "No."

Surge shrugged. "Well, finish up quick. The thing's already set up for you." The man immediately turned back toward the way they had come, stopping only to chat with one of the officers, a serious-looking man with narrow grey eyes.

Ash turned back to the one-sided glass, staring at the weak figure of the ghost type. The persian Surge had managed to find was a few rooms down and it was progressing faster along than the gastly was, but whatever Team Rocket had done was strong. It wouldn't be finished quickly.

He nodded his head. He would do his best to save all of the pokemon captured under Team Rocket's case. He owed it to them.

xXx

Surge had shown him a quick and easy way to charge Rhyhorn in a Pokemon Center's generator. Gladion had apparently sent him a message asking about Ash - which the boy had not been prepared for - and had left instructions for him to follow.

It was a lot easier than he had expected. Electric generators were mostly hidden except for an exposed coil of wire, which connected to two plugs in the wall. By simply removing one end of the wire from the wall, he broke the loop of electricity and, by putting it against Rhyhorn's side, the ground type was able to absorb it.

Surge had cut him off at three minutes in. Rhyhorn's electricity storages were nothing at this point and he'd need to charge a bit every day to be able to use the move with any sort of precision. It was going to take weeks to get his horn to be able to store enough to even use shock wave, and then more time on top of that to be able to generate the electricity himself.

Ash left his starter to get used to the current running through his horn and turned his attention to the one pokemon Nurse Joy had handed him only ten minutes prior. There hadn't been any complications during his evolution, but he would definitely need more time to get used to his form. He released him, immediately greeted with a powerful shriek, and scanned him quickly with his pokedex.

 _Fearow, the beak pokemon. With its huge and magnificent wings, it can stay aloft without ever having to land for rest. Its long neck lets it find prey both on land and water, and it will fly above the ocean for days to find food. It constantly fights with those from the pidgey line._

Ash grinned as he read over the new and improved pokedex entry. Gale shrieked proudly, the furious call now much deeper. He had learned to restrain himself from shrieking at the volume he normally did - it was well known that a fearow's cry could be heard for miles if they released it at their full strength, and Nurse Joy had not taken kindly to that.

He stroked behind the bird's enormous red crest, fingers digging past the thick brown feathers and scratching against the softer layer of fluffy down beneath it. He was still getting used to his much thicker coat, still used to his thinner feathers. Fearow had very different biology than compared to, say, staraptor or pidgeot. The large avian could be found in almost every region naturally, while pidgeot had to migrate during the warmer months. Fearow's thick coat of feathers allowed it better protection against ice types, even if its slightly smaller size than its rival pidgeot hurt some of its battles.

But pidgeot were only bigger than fearow right as after they evolved. Fearow grew faster than pidgeot, given as they only had one evolution. The pidgey line grew very little naturally as they had two bursts of growth hormones, and the production cells needed for those two evolutions severely outnumbered regular growth production. Fearow, on the other hand, only evolved once. It would grow, while not exponentially, but still steadily. And Ash knew that Gale would one day be feet taller than him.

The bird squawked, jolting Ash back into awareness. He preened visibly as Ash stroked over his crest. "May I?" He asked.

Gale only gave it a moment of thought before nodding his approval. Ash grinned and touched lightly over his beak, the enormous weapon longer than his forearm. It just couldn't compare to a spearow's tiny beak. Ash still remembered how Gale had pierced through the tauros' skin and flesh like it was nothing. He was one of the most incredible hunters of the sky, almost completely unbeatable.

Maybe Ash was still stuck on his evolution. He rubbed the back of his neck, smoothing several of Gale's feathers over.

"Okay, bud. So I've given it some thought, and I think I know what moves you're going to learn next."

Gale perked up, talons scratching against his perch. Ash had had to specifically request a room that had a perch big enough for the bird. He knew that for most Pokemon Centers Gale would have to just be on the floor, but he didn't trust the fearow right now after his evolution. Each of his talons were nearly four inches long and were capable of ripping apart carpet without a thought. Once he learned to control himself, he wouldn't have to pay extra for the room.

"Aerial ace is a given. Now that you've evolved, I bet we can pick it up really quick." Gale shrieked his approval. Ash winced and rubbed one ear, though Gale extended a wing to him an apology. "It's alright. But I was also thinking maybe pluck or drill peck. I think you'll like both of them."

Ash let a grin slip over his face. "Both of those moves allow you to get up close and attack your opponent, but you're going to need some more long range attacks well. And I think an actual elemental attack would be perfect. Heat wave."

Gale remembered how Scorch used it, squawking quietly. Quietly for him, at least.

"That's it." He flicked Gale's crest. "When we start training again, we'll see which one you can pick up easier, and then go from there. You know we're going to have to reteach you how to fly, right?"

The fearow shrieked annoyedly. He spread his wings to their full length, nearly nine feet, and flapped them quickly. The wind nearly blew off Ash's hat if he hadn't caught it.

"Oh, come on. You know it. Would you like to battle Misty and just fall into the water because you don't know how to fly right?"

Gale squawked again, but Ash was distracted. A voice had come over his intercom, the gentle tones of Nurse Joy. "Ash Ketchum, please report to the front desk. Ash Ketchum, to the front desk, please."

Ash frowned. He had all of his pokemon with him, all of them fully healed. Turning towards his second friend, he recalled him quickly and started toward the door. He passed a few trainers on his way down, though there weren't that many, and arrived near the front desk.

Nurse Joy smiled warmly at him. "Ash, I have a message here from our gym leader. Surge must really like you!"

"What was it?" He asked, smiling. Her kind mood was infectious.

"It's done." She frowned. "It's not the most descriptive message - would you like me to ask for clarification?"

Ash couldn't help the grin on his face. "No thanks." His face felt like it was able to split in half. "That's fine."

He turned to the glass doors. Now was time.

xXx

Ash tore through the streets as fast as a jolteon, apologizing to everyone he bumped into almost as fast as he was running. The officer at the front of the door only asked his name, grinning at his red face from the run. He was directed back toward where the runs underground had been, the pathway much different than the brightly sterile and impersonal stairway to both Team Rocket bases. Pictures lined this hallway, most of all of the officers in front of the building, years lining the bottom. Every Officer Jenny had her own picture on one wall, her pokemon laid out around in her in an array. Ash paused at the current one, a team made of beasts spread out in the background.

Officer Jenny was waiting at the bottom, scarlet eyes so eerily similar to Rhyhorn's narrowed. "Alakazam took a week but he managed to do it," she sighed. "That gastly is completely free. We checked it out and while it's an aggressive little fucker, it doesn't seem to have any more blocks in its mind. Damn, if I could just find the psychic who managed to put a block in a ghost type's mind…"

Ash nodded, looking past her. Surge was standing by the one-sided glass, staring in with Raichu perched on his shoulder. The man's eyes were tense.

"Is it okay?" He asked, walking up next to the man. Ash was very consciously aware of the fresh pokeball he had placed next to his belt, one down from Scorch's.

Surge let out a barked laughter. "That gastly ain't going to be okay for a long while. Maybe if you give it enough help, but even then, it's going to be a long and bumpy road. It's a ghost type, and resisted the block better than most - its memories are a lot sharper. You're going to have a clusterfuck of a time getting it healed."

Surge looked at the ceiling, more contemplative than Ash had ever seen him. "I was there when they broke through, kid. That gastly kept snapping out of hypnosis and goin' nuts so Raichu zapped him back to lala-land while they worked. I was packing up when it snapped."

"Runt, ghost types are part of the Mind Arts Trio. They don't talk much - sure, gastly will giggle and shit, but you won't hear too much out of their actual mouths. If they even have one. But you can still hear it."

His eyes were dark and clouded. "I wasn't in the room but you didn't have to be. That gastly screamed once they broke the barrier, but no security camera'll pick it up. You hear it in your bones."

Ash couldn't help the shudder that ran up his spine as he looked in on the collapsed ghost type. It was still solidly exhausted and unconscious, though without a hypno constantly focusing on keeping it down, it wouldn't be long before it was up. Ash would have to start moving.

Surge made a move but Officer Jenny got there first. "This is going to be recorded, and we have a hypno nearby ready to take over if things go wrong. If you can't control that gastly, you don't get it."

"I understand." Ash nodded, shoulders set. He palmed Rhyhorn's pokeball and quickly stepped into the room, the glass door sliding shut behind him.

It was much eerier inside the room. The walls, instead of having wide glass panels, were smooth metal, the same matching on the ceiling and floor. He felt a bit like he was trapped in a box, hidden lights shining quietly from pockets in every corner. Though he did feel more comfortable when he spotted the covered vents in the ceiling. If Gastly released its poisonous gases, at least he'd have a chance.

He released Rhyhorn. The ground type rumbled warmly before instantly narrowing in on the ghost. His nostrils flared and he growled, the ground shaking softly beneath his claws. Ash put his hand above his horn and he stopped, though it was clear he was cautious.

Explaining the story took less than five minutes. While in the room, it was easy to forget the people watching him from the outside, though he made sure to include them to Rhyhorn as well. The ground type kept on constant guard.

It was a waiting game after that. Ash wanted to use his pokedex but knew it would only work on pokemon he captured, although his hand twitched toward it several times. Rhyhorn paced by his feet, growling at the tendrils of gas as if that would chase them away. Gastly seemed to have tight control over itself while conscious, but its gases ran freely when it wasn't. Thankfully, they were a fraction of their regular strength, fading away before they had gotten more than a few feet from Gastly's body.

Finally, after seemingly forever, there was movement.

Rhyhorn immediately tensed more than he had already been. Ash moved behind him as Gastly slowly twitched its pure white eyes, the ones that never closed. Its pupils had only slid out of sight, but now Ash could see a corner of one coming back into focus.

They made eye contact.

Gastly exploded upward, activating its ability with a hiss Ash could hear rattling through his head. Its gases moved like living things, almost immediately thickening to become opaque. Ash could barely make out the permanent grin and wide eyes.

"Stop," he said, his voice coming out much more confident than he actually felt. Gastly paused for a second before the outer layers of its gases burst toward him. Rhyhorn reared to the best of his abilities and let the poison bounce off his incredible armor. While Gastly might be able to poison him eventually, now was not the time. It was undertrained, weak, hungry, and most likely still recovering from the psychic block.

"I'm not from Team Rocket. You battled me, remember?"

Gastly seemed to understand him now that it was clear its gases wouldn't have an effect, snow-white eyes twitching in frustration even as it searched the area for a shadow to escape in. Ash barely caught a flash of scarlet eyes before Gastly recoiled away from Rhyhorn's shadow, gases tucking close to its form. He heard the deep baritone of a haunter's laugh in his bones, the shadow rising an inch from the ground before settling. Rhyhorn rumbled in distrust and stepped on it.

"I helped get rid of Team Rocket. That base we rescued from is gone now." Ash could clearly see Gastly's disbelief in the creature's eyes - despite its frozen face, its eyes were quite expressive.

"You won't ever go back to them." Now Ash paused - he had thought long and hard about the pitch he would make to the creature, and now that he was seeing the ghost he figured it was the right move. "But I can make you strong enough to fight them."

Gastly's eyes gleamed with an almost desperate want. It twitched and slowly its gases faded back to transparent, still tightly contained against its body. Rhyhorn stayed between them but Gastly slow rose to make solid eye contact with the trainer.

"You don't know me. I don't know you. You don't know whether I can make you strong. But I promise you - I will do everything within my power to let you fight Team Rocket once again."

They held their stare for what seemed like millennia. Rhyhorn stayed still beneath them, understanding the moment. The only sound was the gentle hiss of the gases being released from Gastly's body.

Until finally, slowly, hesitantly, Gastly shifted its head up and down in a nod. Its grin still bared all of its serrated teeth but it no longer held the edge nor the threat, and its wide, blank eyes were full of emotion.

Ash held up a pokeball slowly. Gastly immediately hissed at the sight of it, gases flaring, before it seemingly traced whose arm held it and calmed. Rhyhorn tensed but didn't move other than that, beady scarlet eyes fixed firmly on the ghost.

As gently as he could, he tossed the pokeball. It passed quickly through the poisonous gases and hit solidly against Gastly's side. With a flash of scarlet light, it disappeared into the pokeball, which immediately began to twitch violently.

It lasted far longer than any of his other pokemon. Even despite knowing who was capturing it, Gastly fought like a cornered animal within the ball. It nearly rolled around the room, writhing and spinning.

There was a gentle click.

Ash knelt and picked up the pokeball, grinning at the chill that crept down his spine once he touched it. "Welcome to the team, Gastly."

xXx

 **There you guys go! Another chapter is done and finished. I'm going to try as hard as I can to get another chapter out by Christmas, a little present for you guys, but in all honesty, you're going to have to wait and see. I have a trip in two-ish weeks and that might not be enough to get a quality chapter out.** **And for the guest reviewer T, none of your theories were spot on, but number 1 got closer than the others.**

 **Please enjoy and review!**


	5. Stirrings

Ash grinned and reclined farther back onto the blanket he had managed to cram in between Rhyhorn's spines and his back. All in all, now that he was a day or so into riding him, it was getting much easier. He could cram only one heel into the divots at a time to stay steady and Rhyhorn had quickly picked up a proper speed to keep both of them moving smoothly.

It had taken him nearly a day after capturing Gastly to convince Surge's Hypno to teleport him to his next location, though he was pretty sure the man had convinced her to drag it out that long so that Nurse Joy could finish up her check over Gastly. Surge had also stolen his pokedex to put his more personal number in it in case Ash found anything before shooing him out of his town.

Hypno had dropped him off right on the edge of Saffron City, though he didn't pop into the city. While she no doubt could have taken him all the way to Cerulean City, he wanted the time to train his team against water types as well as try and get Gastly used to them. He hadn't taken the ghost type out yet, giving his team one relaxing day on Route 5, as well as relaxing a bit himself. Tonight would be full of training for the newbie. Not to mention Gale.

His grin widened as a furious shriek echoed from behind them. Gale flapped furiously, his wings pounding against the sky as he tried to flap at the speed he did as a spearow. But his enormous wingspan could no longer move fast enough for that, and now he just flopped around dramatically in the air.

"You still refusing my help?" Ash called up, prompting a satisfied rumble from Rhyhorn. He chuckled and tapped his heels softly, clucking his tongue like he saw in the rapidash races. "Come on, my noble steed. You don't want to let Gale beat us, do you?"

Rhyhorn rumbled again, though he didn't increase his speed. One glance up and it was easy to tell. Gale had shrieked angrily at Ash's comment, promptly lost concentration, and had nearly plummeted before he caught himself. He _had_ refused Ash's help, though, and Ash would rather let the post-evolution hormones work themselves out before he stepped in. Besides, his friend needed the reality check.

His pokedex gleamed as he scrolled through pages and pages of information, reading idly at what he saw. Most of it was stuff he already knew, though a few pieces were more interesting than others. Almost every single document Professor Oak had downloaded about gastly were frightening and exhilarating - Ash couldn't wait to start training it.

"Did you know you were once used in war? Rhyhorn would lead the cavalry charge." He flicked through a few more paragraphs. "You guys were more feared than both rapidash and tauros, combined. Not a lot could stand up to that fat head of yours."

Rhyhorn gave a grunt of insult, but he rumbled goodnaturedly. His scarlet eyes no doubt gleaming, he made a quick turn left, nearly jerking Ash out of his seat. He yelped, catching a hold on the spine in front of him, and conceded defeat. "Alright, fine. Your head is very nicely proportioned. No fat." That earned him a prideful rumble, and he kept reading. "Hey! You're number 111! In the pokemon classification system, I mean." Rhyhorn rumbled again, but at this point Ash was pretty sure he was just humoring his trainer.

Scorch yipped in concern, trotting closer. With how spread out they were, Ash and his friends were taking up most of the route, as long as you counted the writhing shadow from above. The vulpine had taken it upon herself to keep Gale from killing himself somehow, and from her expression Ash guessed something was about to happen. Scorch's ears flicked back and she lunged forward just as Gale fell, shrieking, to the earth.

Ash signaled for Rhyhorn to stop and he did. Moving gingerly, he dismounted and headed over to the avian still struggling to shake off the dirt covering one of his wings. "None of that," Ash chided, sidestepping the talon that clawed for a grip at the earth.

Gale subsided, squawking angrily as he glared at his offending wings. The growth in the pidgey line was much easier to deal with. Ash sighed and knelt, idly scratching at Scorch's ears, who had sidled up to him.

"I know you're still recovering from your evolution, but if you want to fight in the Cerulean City Gym, you're going to listen to me," Ash said firmly, forcing the avian's black eyes to meet his. The fearow shrieked his disgruntlement but as Ash just stared at his collapsed form, he laid flat, beak resting against the ground. He wasn't even used to all that extra weight yet.

"I'm going to teach you how to fly, and properly this time," he said. "But for today, you're just going to get used to your body. I know I wasn't able to release you very much in Vermillion and I doubt that Nurse Joy did any training with you, so you're still recovering. What you're going to do is stand on Rhyhorn, okay?"

The ground type rumbled annoyedly but stood still as Ash helped Gale up, brushing off his wings and smoothing over the feathers. He was a bit annoyed at losing his rather comfortable and easy seat, but with a tug to free his blanket, he knew his team came first.

It took a fair while for Gale to properly arrange his talons over Rhyhorn's spikes. Gale's seventy pounds weren't comparable to Ash's weight but he was generally sharper, and Rhyhorn grumbled at the pain from his talons. But eventually, he was aligned and ready to move.

Ash barely bit back a laugh. It made for a truly spectacular sight - an enormous, magnificent fearow clumsily perched on a disgruntled rhyhorn's back. Scorch yipped amusedly, tails flicking, though when both Rhyhorn and Gale glared at her she stopped.

Rhyhorn looked pleadingly at Ash but he merely sent his starter off. "It's training," he chuckled, unable to hold back his grin at the very good attempt of growlithe-eyes Rhyhorn was trying for. "Besides, Gale's your friend. You're happy to help him, aren't you?"

An annoyed rumble later, and they were moving.

The first trainer they ran into looked thoroughly confused, but Ash was still able to wring a challenge out of him. Scorch won it rather easily, a weepinbell no match for her flames, and Gale had long since given up being annoyed for the relief his aching wings were getting. Rhyhorn, despite his annoyance, barely seemed to notice the bird's weight. Ash walked steadily along them, even holding up Gale's food bowl during lunch so he wouldn't have to dismount from Rhyhorn. Scorch had seemed to appreciate other pokemon riding Rhyhorn, and had tried to sneakily jump onto his back whenever she thought he was distracted. Ash didn't have to do anything to stop it, especially as Rhyhorn slammed to a stop perfectly to jerk the vulpine right off of his plates. She yipped in annoyance but did continue walking beside Ash, though she eyed his shoulders every so often as if she could ride up there as well. Ash was honestly curious to try. Her twenty pounds wouldn't bother him too much riding shotgun when he was carrying almost three times that in his backpack.

The day on the route went by quickly. There had been an irate cloud of pidgey swarming over the route but Gale had scared them away with one beady eye and a piercing shriek. Scorch had taken care of a tiny pack of rattata, as well as most of his challenges.

But then the day came to an end, the sky dipping from a blue reflected up from the barely-visible ocean to a golden that washed over his skin as if rain. Scorch kept him from feeling the falling temperature as he set up a campsite in the clearing he had found, pressed close to his side. All of them ate their food quickly, scarfing it down before turning expectantly to him. They knew what was coming.

"I'm going to release it," he said, which was a bit unneeded. Rhyhorn straightened and stood directly by his side, his fierce protector. Gale hopped as best he could over to be next to the rhino while Scorch stayed against his other side.

With the click of a button, their new team member appeared. It sagged for a second, pure white eyes roving, before it recognized Rhyhorn. Its shriek echoed around Ash's skull, gases thickening, before its gaze slid up and found Ash. There was a moment of quiet fury in its eyes before it silently levitated a few inches lower to the ground, gases easing back into a passive trickle.

"My name is Ash Ketchum," he said. "This is Rhyhorn, Gale, and Scorch. They're your new teammates, okay?" It hissed, mouth still fixed in its wide grin, but subsided after a moment of glaring from Ash. "I'm going to scan you to see what your moves are."

It was almost difficult to get the pokedex's scanner to focus on the ghost, clicking quietly as it recognized a pokemon but struggled to truly find it. But eventually, it honed onto the gastly's center and began to display text across the town.

 _Gastly, the gas pokemon. Gastly are mainly composed of gases. When its body is exposed to strong winds, it can be blown away and scattered. It can use its gases to suffocate its prey._

 _This gastly knows the moves hypnosis, lick, night shade, smog, and explosion. Its ability is levitate, which allows it to float._

Ash couldn't hide his frown at the last move. He had done some research and it was impossible for a gastly to learn that immensely dangerous move without the most incredible of training, which he doubted Team Rocket did, or a TM. But there were only a limited number of certain, more dangerous TMs made, and explosion was most certainly on the list. It was one of the few moves that could actually kill the user, not even to mention those around it. The very fact it knew it and could use it spoke of something Ash couldn't piece together. He hadn't even _known_ there were explosion TMs able to be seen by the public. Knowing Team Rocket, it probably hadn't been.

He nodded his head. That was a good moveset, one that was far different from both Gale and Rhyhorn's. While all of their moves were mainly for attacking, this gastly had over three ways to incapacitate its enemies. It would be priceless in capturing new pokemon. He toggled a switch on the bottom right - male.

Gastly hissed proudly at him, one pupil flicking out of sync with the other to stare at Rhyhorn. He stayed there floating, gases writhing, while Ash thought over what to do with him. He would do best to learn some more attacking moves, probably shadow ball and hex. "Want to start training, Gastly?"

He immediately hissed at him, pupils slits against the white of his eyes. Ash cursed himself for not remembering something earlier. "I'm sorry. Would you like a nickname?"

Gastly bobbed up and down, still baring its fangs in the wide, unnerving grin. Ash frowned, running through several ideas. If he had to take a wild guess, he'd think that the ghost type would want something powerful and deadly.

He bounced through a few. There were a few poison names that he seemed partial for, but they never stuck for long. While a gastly was indeed a poison type, it was first and foremost a ghost, an eldritch being that did not belong on this earth. It took him a while but eventually, he found one they both liked. "Wraith."

The cackle it gave echoed through his bones.

xXx

All of Wraith's moves were on point. Despite Team Rocket most likely never training him, he seemed to have practiced all of its moves to the point Scorch had to burn herself back awake after his hypnosis. Ash didn't check his explosion. There was a reason it was known to be fatal.

Scorch had, surprisingly, offered herself to be the test subject. Most of Wraith's moves had to be utilized on another pokemon and the reason was that in order to unlock Scorch's latent Mind Arts Trio abilities, she had to be under constant mental stress for them to emerge. And Wraith was only so happy to oblige.

Ash winced as she yipped in pain, thrown backward by the surprise night shade Wraith had flung at her from the shadows. He had spent most of his time creeping around in the black, two gleaming white eyes dripping like wax from a tree branch to the ground. He wasn't strong enough to completely disguise himself in the shadows, so his eyes were like a gleaming beacon for those that could look.

Scorch was not one of them. Her attention was drawn to avoiding the writhing tendrils of gas that slithered across the field.

Without a more solid corporal form like haunter, Wraith couldn't actually bring his gases with him when he traveled through shadows, leaving only his gleaming eyes to be seen. Even they lost any sign of their physical form, disobeying any laws of stability as they moved independently and without constant shape.

Scorch yipped triumphantly and snapped two will-o-wisps toward a seemingly innocent shadow. Wraith shrieked wildly and lunged out of it, eyes shining with pain. Ash clicked his pokeball, withdrawing him before he could get anywhere close to the vulpine. Wraith hissed as he was released half a dozen feet away, but he clutched his gases tight against his body and settled for glaring.

Ash knelt down and scratched behind Scorch's ears, earning a pleased yip. She was handling herself incredibly well against the ghost type and her hex had never been faster to form. Ash knew he was probably pushing her mental abilities too fast but she had always been stronger than most, and if anything she was more excited than him. Ash had filled her head with countless stories of extrasensory, and the idea of competing with a growlithe's sense of smell while it was activated only fueled her competitive spirit. And so she had taken the task of bringing the newest team member up to speed with the rest of the group, using it to progress in leaps and bounds with her own move but mainly focusing on Wraith. She had been taking her job as second in command quite seriously.

Rhyhorn was first, Ash knew that. The ground type was a species built around herds and packs, and for the less than ten rhyperior in the whole world, there were little other pokemon that displayed the same loyal spirit. Even though it was most likely years before he would evolve, there was no denying that fierceness.

Gale, however, was not. While fearow did tend to lead a flock, that wasn't often, and it was normally only directly after they evolved. They were loners, hunting the skies above land and sea and fighting off others from their wide and fiercely kept territories. Gale was fine without leading their team. He didn't need that.

Scorch was a leader, had been before Ash had captured her. But she knew that she couldn't get to Rhyhorn's level and had settled for second in command, handling the newcomers as long as Rhyhorn suitably threatened them enough. Ash had heard the rumbles and barks of their native tongue to the surprisingly quiet Wraith as they apparently laid out what would be happening in the team.

They were two days into Route 5 and already things were going rather splendidly. Ash couldn't wait to see what would come.

xXx

Ash yawned as he walked through the entrance of Cerulean City. He was so tired that he had barely been able to recognize the houses fast approaching, although he had had the good sense to recall Wraith a mile or so back when the ghost got antsy. The gastly was mainly nocturnal and hadn't exactly had a lot of time outside of his pokeball in Team Rocket's care, and had taken to accidentally waking up everyone on the team a few times a night. Ash, despite his budding relationship with the ghost, was getting a bit sick of it.

But he was letting him fight in the gym battle. While he knew that the challenges would be stepping far up in strength, Wraith deserved it. He had poured every last breath - figuratively speaking - into training, learning a new move or two along the way. Ash was very proud of how far he had come from the aggressive, all-offense battler he had been.

Gale was a given. He had adjusted to his new wings and size and now his razor wind stopped Rhyhorn dead in his tracks, at least until the ground type really shoved his bulk behind him. Scorch had taught him the beginnings of a new move, but only the beginnings - he could only summon the warmth of heat wave instead of any of the fire, but it was a start. Gale seemed to enjoy harnessing the element and would definitely use it in battle.

The last came up to Scorch or Rhyhorn, both of which had been very vocal in their attempts to get him to pick them. Both had a disadvantage and neither had any moves to cover it, though Rhyhorn had been able to absorb a fair amount of electricity from Ash's portable batteries.

He nearly slammed into a pole and tried to shake himself back awake. Cerulean City was, in all actuality, not that impressive. There was a hint of a water line far in the distance and it was partially bowled in by a large river, but in all honesty it was dull. The houses were made of modern architecture with only a few variations, the streets were roughly paved with stones and had standard issued light posts. Ash had only seen a few people out on the streets despite it being somewhere near noon on a weekday, and most of them were wearing business casual. Although he would admit it was a mountain ahead of the faux clan garb from Celadon.

The population here was smallish. If he had to, he'd place it somewhere between the ghost numbers of Pallet Town and the bustling Vermillion. It didn't have anywhere near the numbers of Saffron or Celadon but it was a step higher than his hometown. But even his town at least made things interesting, with their tame-ish wandering pokemon and large communal gardens. The only thing to spruce things up here were the posters.

He idly stopped by the closest one. It was about the Sensational Sisters - most of them seemed to be - showing the three posed in their bathing suits. Brightly colored words glittered around the sides, the edges curling and peeling. It was several weeks old, the show long gone, but there was no one to take down the posters until they eventually blew away.

Cerulean City, while not nearly on the level of Pewter City, was far from rich. It never had enough money to raise its quality - it barely had enough to keep itself alive. The Sensational Sisters were some of the only income for the town, and they worked harder on that than anything. Though their younger sister, Misty, had had to take over a few challenges, all four were selling their soul to keep the gym and the city alive.

Ash gave himself an hour to find the Pokemon Center and recuperate, and then he'd challenge the gym.

xXx

There had been a few shops around the town, mainly for food and the like, but there had been one for more trainer-y things. Ash was only halfway through his storage of iron for Gale, having taken a break since he evolved, but already he was seeing the results. Pokemon Centers didn't carry base form nutrients and the other stores didn't either. In the end, he shrugged it off and headed toward the gym.

It was the best kept thing in the town. Gleaming white walls with blue tinted windows and a glass roof, a neat garden out front. More posters littered along the walls, bright and welcoming, and Ash could feel the burning stir of adrenaline pick up as he walked through the doors.

There was a receptionist, an older woman with her strawberry blonde hair pinned back. The room was made of grey walls and thick plastic flooring made to look like wood. It made sense - there was no reason to have actual wood flooring in a water type gym. She smiled prettily at him, shifting a paper to the side as she waited for him to fully approach.

"I'm here for a gym battle," he said, brushing his hands over his pokeballs. Each had already been briefed at the Pokemon Center. He had decided to wait and see what pokemon the Sisters threw at him before choosing either Rhyhorn or Scorch to fight with.

"Alright!" She chirped. "The Sisters are right by the pool, and I think they should be ready. Any electronics on you?"

He blinked but nodded, gesturing toward his pokedex.

She pointed toward a series of lockers on the far wall. "Well, unless you want to have it zap you in the middle of a match, I'd suggest putting it in there. It's just better to be safe than sorry in a water type gym, ya know? Make sure to collect a brochure on your way out!"

He nodded and turned toward the lockers. They each had a key, which he slipped around his waist in the plastic bracelet that was attached. He was more than slightly leery to leave something gifted to him by Professor Oak behind but he was even more so about getting it ruined.

Ash went to the door she directed. The cloying scent of chlorine grew stronger and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up - he could hear the dim sounds of splashing water and the bark of commands. They were probably training.

There was a buzz of an intercom from the challenge area and the sounds of training abruptly shut off. When he pushed open the door and walked inside, there were no pokemon out, though the ground was covered in water. His boots, thankfully, were waterproof, and the multiple drains across the tiles prevented most of it from escaping.

The three Sisters were in various positions across the room. One was in the middle of the enormous pool, perched on top of a platform with three pokeballs around her waist. The other two were around the edges of the pool, bathing suits soaking. Although, once Ash gave a second look, he could tell that they weren't bathing suits. While they were smaller and cut around the same areas as a one-piece, they were made of a thinner version of the material most police officers used. The black wasn't flattering, but the three rather gorgeous girls didn't need it.

One of the Sisters smiled apologetically. "Sorry about the water. You're about to get soaked again, though, so don't get too comfortable."

Ash nodded, stepping forward and trying to ignore the squeak his boots gave as he stepped through the puddles. The Sister in the pool leaped nimbly from platform to platform until she was on the edge, pulling her dripping ponytail back and getting in line with her siblings.

The tallest pulled out two pokeballs from some sort of hidden pocket, preparing to announce the challenge when Ash spoke up. "I have three badges," he called.

Instantly, grins lit up their faces. They each grabbed one pokeball from their own pockets, twirling them idly in their palms as they arrived on the opposite side of the pool. "It's been a while since we've gotten a workout," one called. "You'll be facing one of each of our pokemon. I'll be going first - my name's Violet, by the way. We don't have an order, either. For all you know, I could be the strongest!" Her laugh was twittering, almost like a pidgey.

Ash nodded, palming his pokeballs. The referee on one side of the room, who had slipped in while the Sisters were preparing, raised his hand and announced the standard set of rules. Three on three.

Violet grinned and released a seadra. The water type spat a stream of water into the air upon its arrival, eyes glimmering with arrogance. It slipped into the water and twitched its wide fins, preparing for battle. Its agua and tan scales were hardened and sharp, but it was still a fair while away before it would be safe to evolve it, if the Sisters could even get a hold on a dragon scale at all.

Ash thought it over for a moment before releasing Gale. He had heard stories about a monstrous dewgong on their team and Gale needed to take out one pokemon before another could hit him with ice move, which he hadn't had enough time to work up a resistance to.

The fearow shrieked mightily and took to the skies, flapping his wings smoothly. The room didn't have much in terms of height but it was enough for Gale to properly stretch his wings and fly around a bit to warm up. Seadra sank a few inches below the water, ripples covering its horns. It watched him with the eyes of a predator.

But Gale was a predator all on his own, and he was now evolved to hunt over water. His thick feathers and enormous talons would shut down its arrogance. Ash couldn't help the grin spreading over his face - this would be his first real battle in over a week. Most of the other challenges had been much simpler tasks, and Scorch had been enough to handle most of them. Now was his first _real_ gym battle, facing their actual teams. It was a challenge he was more than ready for.

"Fearow vs seadra!" The referee announced. "Begin!"

Seadra immediately dropped, sinking fully into the water. Violet stayed quiet and Ash realized why after a second - there wasn't much of a chance her pokemon could actually hear her through the water, especially with as bad of hearing seadra were known for. Though by the gentle smile on her face, she wasn't worried.

"It can fire water but has to stay in the pool. Circle. Try and find it, then flurry," he said, earning a shriek in response. Gale tucked his wings closer and pulled into a lazy circle, though anyone that knew him knew it was anything but. His black eyes gleamed as he searched through the gently rippling water.

Seadra were not known for their patience, and after only a few minutes, it reared up to the side of one of the platforms and immediately fired a bolt of water. Gale tucked his wings and swerved to avoid it, shrieking angrily. Seadra determinedly snapped off more and more water, ducking beneath the surface of the pool every now and then to replenish.

Gale's bulk was the issue. One of Seadra's more powerful shots tagged his wings and sent him flailing, still unused to his form. Ash lunged for the opportunity. "Use it! Flurry!"

The fearow steadied, feathers lit from beneath by a gleaming white light. Aerial ace made him glow as he swerved upward in a tight loop before plummeting. Seadra made no sound, eyes narrowed as it tried to escape underwater. Gale reached it long before that.

His talons slammed into its protective armor, almost denting it as he landed on the pokemon. They both fell underwater from the force he had used to land the attack, writhing through the bubbles. Ash could see the gleam of steel wing as Gale finished the combo they had come up with.

There was a momentary pause where the only sign was the two thrashing shadows beneath the surface of the water. Ash couldn't help the prickle of unease over his spine - fearow were made to dip beneath the surface while hunting, but they couldn't survive for longer than a few minutes, especially not while fighting another pokemon. He palmed his pokeball.

Gale exploded from the surface of the water, shrieking furiously. Water streamed off of his oily feathers but it was impossible to miss the spot sheared clean in his chest. The missing feathers dotted the surface, ripped off by an intense blast of water.

Seadra appeared a few moments later, looking much worse for wear but eyes gleaming proudly. Two enormous cuts ran over its muzzle from either aerial ace or steel wing but it still replenished its storages under the water fast enough to launch another blast to the weakened Gale.

Ash frowned, a strategy coming to him. "It's absorbing water from the pool," he shouted. "Get close and grab it. Try and get it on one of the platforms and then take it out."

Gale screeched his approval at the plan and swooped like an avenging legendary, wings tucked and talons outstretched. Seadra made to disappear again, to tempt him under the water, but the fearow was having none of that. He shrieked as loudly as he could, disorienting the creature, before slamming his talons over its fins and rising.

It was obvious it was much heavier than the bird was expecting. His wings flapped furiously, reminiscent of the first time he tried flying, beak gaping as he struggled to lift it into the air toward the nearest platform. Seadra was making it more difficult, thrashing and spitting out globs of ink to slid over Gale's feathers, weighing him down.

He managed to throw the water type down on the floating plastic thing, landing on the edge himself. Seadra flopped, using its fledgling levitation abilities to try and right itself, but Gale wasn't having any of that. His near two-foot long beak gleamed as he prepared to use peck.

Violet gave her first command of the entire match. "Twister!"

Ash paled as Seadra flicked its lower fins, uncurling its tightly wound tail as if baiting a storm to come. And come it did.

Wind erupted from the tip of its snout, swirling together into a howling cyclone. Gale was effortlessly smacked off of the platform, nearly thrown into the water before he surged upward with the glimmering protection of steel wing to ward off some of the winds. He dodged furiously as Seadra twisted its head to try and hit him, but now that Gale knew what was coming he was prepared. Still, the twister had gone low enough to scoop up water and throw that was well, and Ash was displeased to find that the psychic barriers only blocked high-intensity waters as his chest was quickly soaked.

Seadra let the tornado drop, sagging with exhaustion. It glared, arrogance still glimmering in its eyes even as it flopped against the platform.

"Peck, then fury attack if you need to. Finish it," Ash said, gritting his teeth. It had been a long while since Gale had been smacked around like that.

Gale screeched his approval and moved. Seadra tried to spit more blasts of water at him but it was drained dry - seadra had never evolved to have very large water reserves as they could only survive in the water and draw from that. Kingdra grew enormous ones but seadra, when grounded, were far from good battlers.

It only managed to dampen Gale's feathers with a blast of mist before he was there. His peck stabbed effortlessly through the thick scales of Seadra's fins and though he moved for fury attack, the water type was recalled before then.

Violet sighed, palming the pokeball. "That was a nice battle. I really thought Seadra could reclaim it with that twister. It was, like, really close." There was a smirk on her face. "And we really should have warned you about the barriers, yeah. We don't have too strong of a psychic type and so he only worries about really dangerous attacks getting through. You're not even close to being soaked."

She gained a fierce grin. "But it's not over yet! Come on, Daisy, you're up. Show this little punk the power of the Sensational Sisters, yeah?" She stepped off of the commanding area to let a blonde haired girl step forward, who idly tossed a pokeball up and down.

"I'm the oldest here," she said as a way of greeting. "My pokemon have prepared for any advantage you could throw at us!"

Ash tensed. A wiggling memory in the back of his head told him that this was the Sister to have the enormous dewgong whose bulk was said to sink the platforms if it came ashore. Daisy, though her simple hairdo and gentle smile didn't show it, trained beasts when it came to water types. Ash gritted his teeth and flashed a glance to Gale, who was still perched on the platform. Missing feathers bobbed in the water and he held his right wing awkwardly, but his crest was extended and his eyes were sharp. He'd keep fighting.

"Dewgong's been waiting for a challenge!" She barked. "Show me you can actually give one!"

With that, she released her pokemon.

It _was_ a behemoth. Nearly six feet tall and almost double that long, it let loose a lilting cry upon its arrival. Its body was covered in slick blue-silver fur, oily and thick, and Ash could see the muscles even beneath the thick layer of fat. It stared rather quietly at him with deep brown eyes, assessing. The platform groaned beneath it, sinking enough to allow nearly half a foot of water to splash over its surface.

Ash swallowed. He had prepared for this - Gale had enough tricks to weaken it to the point of either Scorch or Rhyhorn. The referee took a moment to allow both of them to stare each other down before dropping his hand. "Fearow vs dewgong! Begin!"

"Pin!" Ash shouted. Gale took to the skies, shrieking. Dewgong simply watched him, swishing its tail through the water. It stayed that way for a moment that dragged on for hours as Gale gathered strength.

If the avian had teeth, he would have grit them. As it was, he settled for clapping his beak closed as he threw a powerful burst of blue-flecked wind toward Dewgong, his razor wind as strong as ever. Dewgong grunted lowly and made a move to slip into the water, but Gale swooped forward so that he was directly above it, pinning it to the platform.

But with the creature's impossibly thick reservoirs of fat, the move was barely doing anything to actually hurt it. And that was where the next step of pin came in.

Gale screeched in frustration and flapped harder. Flickeringly, Ash saw the wind waver as if a mirage. A single ember popped to life before fading out. He couldn't help the wide grin spreading over his face.

Heat wave was far from perfect, but it was getting there. Gale cawed as Dewgong finally began to twitch from the pain of heat and wind combined, though it was nothing like the inferno Scorch could summon.

Daisy shook her head, and as Ash looked up, he realized she had never dropped her smile. "You have a good strategy, kid," she called. "I'll give you that. You have some good combos and your pokemon at least somewhat know what they're doing. But it's time to see what a _real_ pokemon can do. Dewgong, begin."

Dewgong abruptly stopped whining in pain and by the time Ash realized it had been a trick, the behemoth had already easily shrugged off the wind and slipped into the water.

Gale broke off his move, half from Ash's command and half in shock. His razor wind alone was normally enough to make Rhyhorn struggle to inch impossibly forward. In his confusion, he missed the silver-blue form slipping through the water underneath him.

"Below you!" Gale swerved out of the way as Dewgong emerged, but it didn't fire the steady beam of intense blue at him. Instead, it swept it over the field, holding the rather draining tactic for nearly a minute as if it was a simple icy wind. In under a minute, nearly three-quarters of the field was frozen.

Ash shivered. The cold permeated the air and he swore that the splashed parts of him were going to freeze. Daisy shot him a quick apologetic glance before turning back to the battle. He did the same.

Dewgong clambered up onto the enormous ice floe, using its deceptively strong flippers to haul its bulk up. It seemed much more at home now, using its enormous flippers to slide easily around the field. Gale circled overhead, unaffected by the cold. His kind was made for hunts over frozen ocean.

He just wasn't made to fight the predators already there.

Ash swallowed. He had put more stock into pin than he had thought, and Daisy had already used that to exhaust Gale. "Use aerial ace to get in close and do whatever you can."

Gale seemed to understand he wasn't going to win this fight, but if the wild screech he gave was any indication, he was still going to give it all. He swooped into the tight flip incredibly fast, claws and beak shining as he dove like a hurricane-

Dewgong was faster. With uncanny ease, it sniped off an ice beam and tagged him in the center of his wing. Hoarfrost crackled over each feather and his dive was ripped from him. Horribly off balance, Gale fell, shrieking all the while as he tried to stay upright with only his left wing.

He slammed into the edge of the ice floe. Ash winced at the pained screech but Gale tore himself upward, one wing completely covered in a thin layer of ice and dragging on the ground. The fearow lunged across the ice, talons scrabbling for a hold and a speed they were unused to.

Dewgong seemed almost surprised at Gale's fierce anger, and that confusion cost it precious seconds to react. By the time it fired another ice beam, Gale had lunged forward and stabbed his beak through its chest.

The next second, his chest was frozen. The cold was far too much for him and the proud fearow fell over silently, wings tucked in an uncomfortable position beneath his fallen form. Ash recalled him quickly, pokeball cold under his fingers. Dewgong made a sound not unlike a laugh and slid easily back toward Daisy's side.

The Sister in question had a wide smile on her face, only growing with the cheers of her fellow sisters. "Dewgong isn't someone to be underestimated," she said, voice carrying over the field. "What's your next pokemon?"

Ash didn't have to give it a lot of thought. Rhyhorn could have faced a water type, maybe the seadra, but Dewgong was a monster with nearly every move it had able to lower Rhyhorn's body temperature to drastic levels and rip right through his plates to his sensitive skin. He couldn't make his fight. Wraith wasn't strong enough either, not until it was much more heavily weakened. He tossed his other pokeball, the warmth from it aiding his stiff fingers.

Scorch appeared on the field with a howl, tails curling above her head. Fire spewed from the tips as she braced herself. The glass-domed roof only emphasized her power, high noon dancing off of her fur like stars.

She and Dewgong made eye contact. Despite Scorch having to stare nearly four feet up, she didn't seem afraid. The bleeding wound in the center of the silvery blue fur detracted from the ice type's overall appearance but it was still powerful - Scorch just knew that she could fight it.

Ash paused, sucking in a deep breath. He had a plan.

Before more than a heartbeat had gone by, Scorch activated flash fire, letting a wave of heat explode through the room and warming it rather immensely.

Already, the ice beneath her paws began to melt. She yipped as the water seeped past her fur but determinedly moved a few steps away - that too began to melt. Ash closed his eyes.

"You can't use flash fire, Scorch," he said. "It'll melt the ice."

With a whine, she deactivated it, and the cold came pressingly back. He hadn't considered a field full of ice to walk on for her. Not only would she be weakened by the cold because flash fire wasn't able to defend her, but she would be weakened further by having flash fire not constantly absorb oxygen for her to use.

Opening his eyes, he made eye contact with the referee and nodded. The man raised his hand and announced the fight, beginning it quickly. Dewgong kept still, waiting to see what Scorch's strategy would be.

Daisy was quiet as well. Vulpix were rare enough as is, and four tails was a show of her strength. Scorch had made no effort to hide the power of her flash fire, strong enough to melt the ice beneath her paws, and it was obvious she was battle ready.

Ash grimaced. With Gale, he had razor wind to cover the still unmastered heat wave. Scorch, however, would rely heavily on her bare beginnings of a move for the strategy he was going to use.

"To the left, near the water. As many embers as you can toward it - get a cover of mist up. Then use extrasensory and hunt."

He could see her ears perk up at the sound of the move. She adored using it, but the fact was that she couldn't hold it for very long, nor could she activate the actual attacking power of the move. At this moment, she could only boost her own senses, instead of overloading the opponents to confuse them.

Scorch howled and fired a single ember toward Dewgong. The water type grunted and destroyed it with a single puff of icy breath, but the distraction worked - Scorch had launched nearly two dozen rapid balls of fire toward the rippling surface.

Steam immediately exploded upward. Scorch whined in pain at the moisture but kept firing more, the brief flashes of light from the embers the only thing visible in the cloud of mist. It looked like a true cloud, heavy with water and slowly expanding.

Daisy clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "You have good strategies, kid, but even in the mist there's nothing your vulpix can do against Dewgong." She chuckled. "There's not much anyone can do against him."

She nodded toward the ice type. "Get in and do it quick. Don't get in the water."

Dewgong grunted its acknowledgment and slid forward, flippers propelling it quickly over the thick ice. In seconds, it was completely enveloped in the cloud, and Ash could see nothing.

There was a burst of fire, then nothing, then more fire. It was far from obvious what was going on in there.

Ash couldn't help the slight grin that spread over his face even as nervousness writhed in his stomach. Scorch hadn't been hit yet, extrasensory allowing her to avoid attacks and launch her own, but she couldn't keep it up forever.

Daisy was right that she didn't have a lot of moves that could injure Dewgong. The thing was, though, that she did have a few.

He cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, "Pack hunt!"

The fire attacks abruptly shut off. Daisy shot him a confused glance, eyebrows raised. "Are you going to fight a _dewgong_ like you'd fight a vulpix's prey? That is-"

Ash saw the bluish flames connect. There was silence, and another burst hit something, the blue much more hidden in the cloud than the fireballs had been. Daisy kept talking, trying to unnerve him, but he saw a shadow drop from the ceiling. Summoned by otherworldly energies. Or by one very specific attack.

Daisy visibly blanched as Dewgong released a terrible cry of pain. Two ice beams flashed out of the cloud and connected with the barriers, released randomly. If Ash had to guess, Scorch had used nearly four will-o-wisps before performing hex. That would pack an incredible punch no matter what she was facing.

"Keep the advantage," he called, praying her extrasensory was still activated. "Heat wave, ember, anything you can!"

She couldn't bark back or reveal her position, but he saw the intense blast of fire that was bright enough to illuminate Dewgong for a second. It took a moment before the mist covered it again. Ash narrowed his eyes. With all of the fire attacks Scorch had been using, she was losing the cover she needed. "More fire into the water! Try and keep up the-"

The ice cracked.

It was a terrible omen. Instantly the room went quiet, the only sound the water lapping against the ice floe. The mist thinned even more and Ash could see Scorch's reddish fur blitzing around the area, and in only another second she emerged from the cloud like a rocket, quick attack blurring her movement. Ash opened to mouth to tell her to stop wasting energy when he realized why she was running.

The mist had cleared enough for him to see the broken circle in the middle. The issue came with the lack of Dewgong there.

And Scorch's reasons for running were clear.

Right beneath the surface of the ice, barely visible as more than a shadow, was Dewgong. It was in its element, hunting beneath the surface of its ice towards prey that couldn't get away. A single hit from its flippers would break the ice beneath Scorch if she stopped running. A single hit would send her flying. A single hit would end this match.

Ash had no idea what to do. Scorch was obviously exhausted, the overuse of extrasensory and hex attesting to that, but she couldn't stop running. Dewgong looked worse, peppered in burns and the black markings from hex, but even its decreased speed didn't decrease the hunt.

Daisy settled back, a light grin on her face. "I wasn't expecting that hex," she said almost conversationally, as if they weren't watching their pokemon battle. "Dewgong's looking a lot worse than any other battles so far have pushed him. But what can your vulpix do now?"

"Scorch." She didn't react but he knew she heard him. "Flash fire and quick charge. Melt the ice and get to a platform. Use light show if it gets close and do whatever you can."

She wasn't going to win this battle. She just didn't have the firepower yet. The vulpine could run circles around the ice type every day of the week but she just didn't have any finishing moves to actually end things. Wraith would have to do that.

Scorch howled and ignited her fur. The ice melted and she almost slipped, paws low on traction, and it only grew worse when she lit herself again. She barely had enough time to make it to one of the platforms before the entire thing melted beneath her.

Chunks of the ice floe bobbed in the water, still melting away from the sheer heat Scorch was giving out. Dewgong circled once beneath the water before popping up, grunting as it shoved a chunk of ice away effortlessly with its horn. It opened its mouth to form another glacier but Daisy snapped her fingers.

"It's too weak. Get in close and end this."

Dewgong gave another lilting cry before dipping again beneath the water. Scorch whined in pain and frustration but began to glow again, lit from inside by a pale blue. Her extrasensory flickered, coming on and off as she struggled to pour her energy into finding Dewgong before it reached her.

All four of her tails released a burst of light just as Dewgong emerged from the water, an ice beam primed in its throat. It groaned in pain, eyes used to the pitch blackness of deep frigid waters, and paused as it tried to recover. Scorch gave one desperate look around - no platform was close enough to leap to without assistance - before jumping onto Dewgong's head.

Ash gaped but she just used it as a stepping stone, propelling herself again to reach a platform behind it. He opened his mouth to cheer wildly but closed it when he heard her cry of pain - she had stepped on Dewgong's horn, and it had gone cleanly through her paw.

There was no escaping now. Reduced to three paws, the fourth tucked close to her chest, she waited for the ice type to turn around.

Dewgong was furious. Flash fire had burned its head and the aftereffects of hex were only making the pain that much worse, bright and intense. It swallowed the ice beam and swam closer, priming a water move instead. Ash could see the almost sickly colored liquid swirl in its mouth a moment before it fired.

Scorch managed to throw five fireballs - four from her tails and one from her mouth - before the water slammed into her.

It threw her clean off the platform, but Ash recalled her before she hit the water. He whispered praise into the chilled surface even as he watched the field.

Dewgong roared in pain as one of the fireballs smacked it into the eye, ducking immediately under the water to douse the pain. When it reemerged, the clear membrane over one eye was blackened and puffy.

Deep sea pokemon didn't have regular, human-like eyelids. Instead, they had a thick membrane over their eyes to allow them to stay clean and protected. Dewgong were no different - while its eye would be fine-ish, the injured membrane would leave it blind and disoriented.

Daisy was quiet for a while, staring at her heavily injured Dewgong. "What's your name, kid?" She finally asked.

Ash hadn't realized he hadn't told them. "Ash. Ash Ketchum. I'm from Pallet Town."

"Well then, Ash," she said. "We aren't done yet. Release your next pokemon."

He nodded. "Let's finish this," he said, eyeing the limply floating Dewgong. It had taken down two of his pokemon so far, and despite it looking like it was halfway to passing out already, he doubted it didn't have more gas in the tank. It was best to finish things quickly.

Wraith cackled as he appeared, eyes flashing in and out of focus as his gases immediately thickened to opaque. Daisy - and the other Sensational Sisters - flinched, and he dimly realized they probably hadn't heard laughs inside their bones before. Meeting ghosts for the first time was never truly enjoyable.

"Dewgong vs gastly! Begin!"

Ash sprang into action before Daisy could open her mouth. "Night shade then ghost ball. Do it fast."

Wraith hissed, pulling his gases forward and infusing them with ghostly energies. As a ghost type, he didn't need to summon shadows from things nearby. He was full enough as is.

Dewgong grunted and slipped under the water. The night shade, looking almost like a bolt of lightning, slammed into the surface and erupted upward, showering Ash _again_ with water. Dewgong avoided the worst of it but was still injured, groaning as it swam deeper.

Wraith was barely restrained by Ash's command to wait, eyes vivid in the hunt. Dewgong slipped through the water for a while, trying to find a strategy. Daisy had not been expecting a gastly and didn't seem to have one either.

Dewgong erupted from beneath Wraith, a multicolored beam firing from its horn. It met Wraith's second night shade and both exploded before they ever reached their targets.

Wraith wailed from the pain of the explosion, the sound reverberating through Ash's skull, before abruptly charging another attack. Beneath his two fangs, a ball of pure shadow formed, crackling with grey and blue lightning. Dewgong made to swim below again but Wraith tagged its tail. With a cry, it passed out, floating on the surface.

Daisy recalled it quietly, shaking her head from side to side. "Dewgong hasn't been defeated in a long time, Ash. Good job." She looked to the side. "Lily, you're up."

Lily - who had the shortest hair out of the three, a gentle pink-ish color with brown roots showing through - twittered nervously as she climbed onto the platform. "I'll admit, it's been the longest since I've had to fight! I'm the youngest, but my pokemon are strong." She rubbed the back of her neck, blushing. "Not as strong as Dewgong, though."

Ash nodded, fixing his stare on Wraith. The ghost trickled back toward his side, hovering over open water. He didn't need the platforms unless he was too exhausted to use his ability, which Ash rather doubted would happen.

Lily released her pokemon. A golduck squawked as it appeared on its side of the field, blue feathers a stark contrast to the pale white ice chunks still floating around. Ash narrowed his at the reddish gem embedded in its forehead - its admittedly sharp claws couldn't do more than annoy Wraith but psychic powers would be a hassle.

The referee started the match and this time, Ash let Lily take the first move. She seemed a bit surprised at that, pausing for a moment before calling out, "Water gun!"

Wraith immediately dropped as Golduck spat out a stream of water, cutting it off fast as soon as it realized it wasn't going to hit. Ash frowned at the very real gleam of intelligence within its eyes, showing battle prowess earned over many years. Although Lily seemed inexperienced, her pokemon was not.

Wraith spat at the pokemon, fangs sliding around in his mouth while one pupil flicked back to stare at Ash. He had drilled into his mind about waiting for commands before attacking, and it seemed to be working. Though his gases were flicking and writhing, he stayed on Ash's side, sizing Golduck up.

"Shadow ball. Test its reflexes. Then go for daze when you find a chance."

Ash had only taken a short while to come up with the combo daze, and he had never been more excited to see it in action. It combined Wraith's biggest strengths - stopping enemies before they had the chance to attack. Smog, hypnosis, and lick on their own were incredibly dangerous, but when they were together, they were unstoppable.

Golduck dove into the water the moment Wraith spat the shadow ball at it, quacking quietly as it popped its head back above the water. It treated easily, waiting for instructions even as it analyzed the floating ball of gas in front of it.

"Um, water gun and then confusion!" Lily shouted. She gave a lot more commands than the other Sisters.

Golduck responded instantly, spitting enormous streams of water, cutting them off the moment they began to miss only to fire another one. Wraith was struck cleanly in his mouth, which passed cleanly through him. A gaping hole appeared in his form before his gases pulled themselves back together, sucking his energy to do so.

With ghosts, it wasn't a game of hitting them. It was a game of exhausting them. They could survive nearly any attack that hit them as long as they had the energy to pull themselves back together. As a gastly, Wraith would rely heavily on dodging because if the attack hit his center hard enough to blow it away, he wouldn't be able to come back together. But when he was a haunter, Ash could teach him a technique called reforming, which allowed him to completely reform his entire body after being knocked out, but it was incredibly draining.

Golduck abruptly gave up on water guns and instead went for confusion. The gem on its forehead began to glow a fierce blue, the same shade erupting around Wraith's eyes. He writhed in pain, gases flying toward Golduck in an effort to distract it.

Wraith howled, the sound high and shrieking in Ash's bones. The confusion touched his mind, which, in his base form, he had almost no protection on. But he struggled through the pain and _dove_ , eyes alit with malice as he moved.

Golduck tried to duck underwater to swim away, but Wraith went for lick first. A ghostly tongue made from an extension of his gases slammed against Golduck's beak, snapping its head to the side even as its muscles froze up. It nearly began to twitch, fighting through the paralysis, but Wraith just locked eyes with the frozen creature and glowed pink. The bonds of hypnosis built and grew, fighting against the water type's mental prowess, but Wraith's anger allowed him to subdue the pokemon. Finally, he floated closer and surrounded Golduck in his gases, obscuring him so much Ash almost didn't see the bright red flash of a pokeball.

Lily sighed on the other side of the battlefield. "That was a good match!"

"Yeah," Ash agreed, still focused on Wraith. The ghost looked wildly around for his opponent, gases flickering, before Ash's words jolted him back. He bared his fangs at his trainer but the expression showed far more pride and exhilaration than anger - he had taken out two pokemon on his first gym battle.

When he looked up from recalling Wraith, Daisy was by his side. Her golden hair was dripping wet and he dimly realized that his matched - he was almost soaked to the bone.

"That was a good match, Ash." She grinned. "Your vulpix knows her stuff. I really expected Dewgong to thrash her the moment she came onto the field."

He blushed slightly, and she chuckled.

"Here's your badge, though. The Cascade Badge isn't viewed on the same level as the Marsh or Volcano, but you really did earn this one. Nice job."

His blush brightened, spreading to his neck. Shaking hands with all three Sisters, he turned to leave and take a nice, warm shower back at the Pokemon Center.

"Hey, by the way." Ash turned back to see Daisy walking up to him. "What would you rank our pokemon? We do want to organize ourselves in terms of weakest to strongest but it's been so long since a challenge we don't even know anymore."

He thought quietly for a moment, idly shaking some moisture out of his hair. "Definitely the dewgong was the strongest," he started. "Then the seadra, and then the golduck. But they were all really strong. If you can get a dragon scale, that seadra is going to be a beast."

She smiled at him, flicking a strand of her golden hair back. "Thank you, Ash. We'll make sure to call you back when we find one! I'm sure she can use your fearow for target practice." Her smile grew softer. "Seriously, like, come back. This was a really fun match. It's been forever since we've gotten someone above three badges.

"I will." He was definitely finding some way back afterward. That dewgong had been the strongest pokemon he had faced so far. Well, other than the tauros, but that pokemon had been in a group of its own.

"Actually," she said, grinning. "I'm going to call up Brock. He hasn't had a real battle since even before us. I promise, he'll be more excited to see you than you are to meet him!" There was a pause. "You are heading his way, right?"

He couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. "Yeah. I'm pretty excited."

"You should be. Brock knows his stuff." She twisted his shoulder until he pointed toward the door. "Now shoo. We need to clean up."

Ash thanked them again and walked away. Now that the adrenaline rush of the battle was gone, he _really_ needed the shower. He was freezing.

xXx

Ash yawned and stretched, backpack rising with him. There wasn't much to do in Cerulean, and he was itching for the road again. The battle against the Sisters had refueled his adrenaline, and he didn't even want to spend a night in the Pokemon Center. He knew that if he did, he wouldn't be traveling again until nearly noon because of the free meals.

So better to just start tonight.

There was only an hour on sundown and he had spent the time walking Route 24 by himself. When he released his pokemon, he wanted to congratulate them on their win, and it was better to do that when he turned in for the night.

He had made the decision not to go up Route 4 yet. Bill, the pokemon researcher, was always interesting and it would be nice to meet him, at least if the man had time. But the real reason was for training Ash wanted battles. He wanted pokemon. While Route 4 would provide him that, he needed to take some real time to develop his team. That dewgong had been a slap in the face for his rather trusted position on his throne. The last time he had struggled anywhere near that level had been with Sabrina, but he had worked past that. This time, however, the challenges were only getting worse and he needed to be prepared.

So Route 24 it was. Besides, Bill might be someone interesting to talk to. In the articles Ash had read about him and the not-so-subtle hints from Professor Oak, the man liked talking to trainers, as well as gathering data from their pokemon.

The sun gave one last surge of glory from behind the horizon, a final flash of burning gold, before it succumbed and slipped beneath. Ash grimaced at the dark and started to look around for a clearing to stay the night in. The League hadn't really expected anyone to travel only an hour away from Cerulean and so there weren't any of the nice well-kept clearings with picnic tables and structures to camp in tonight, but he made due. The clearing was quite cramped but he wasn't planning on any serious training tonight anyway.

Though Rhyhorn might want to let out some steam.

Ash set up for the night, sliding his bag out and grabbing his sleeping bag. The silence was pressing and by the time he was ready, he was twitching. While the hour or so of quiet had been nice, he wanted his friends back.

Rhyhorn landed on the ground with a roar. When he finally realized that he wasn't in the gym battle, the glare he shot Ash was legendary. Ash couldn't hold back the wild laugh that ran through him even as he apologized to his starter. "It was an ice _and_ water type, bud. You just don't have the firepower to deal with one of those yet. But don't worry - we will. Once you perfect shock wave, we can start fighting water types, and you'll soon get strong enough to face a dewgong all by yourself."

Rhyhorn still rumbled annoyedly, but he accepted it and turned back to the clearing. He went on his daily inspection of the trees, eyeing any suspicious spots for enemy pokemon. Ash let out one last snicker before turning back to release the rest of his team.

Gale screeched his arrival, spreading his wings and looking far too pleased of him. There was still a tender spot where the seadra had tagged him and he was moving stiffly, but Nurse Joy had worked her magic.

Wraith cackled, gases visibly puffing up with pride. Rhyhorn rumbled annoyedly once he finished his patrol, stomping back over as Wraith no doubt bragged about the battles he had won to everyone else.

Ash winced as Scorch was released. She had been the most injured and Nurse Joy had had to stitch up the paw she had stabbed with the dewgong's horn. Scorch wouldn't be fighting for a few days and he'd need to carry her if she wanted to walk beside him for more than about an hour to avoid ripping the stitches open again.

He opened his mouth to tell everyone about the badge when Rhyhorn took one look at Scorch and lunged for her.

Ash leapt to his feet, jerking forward, but Rhyhorn was merely nudging her toward the middle of the cramped clearing they were in. He snapped his scarlet gaze toward the center and almost instantly a wide area of dirt lifted into the air, making a fire pit. Rhyhorn rumbled loudly, stomping his paws several times and using his claws to rip up dirt. Ash stood back, stunned, but his starter wasn't talking to him - instead, Gale and _Wraith_ were paying rapt attention. The next second, they both flew off.

Ash gaped. Wraith had only just begun to truly join the team and listen to them, but Rhyhorn must have had a much stronger leadership position than Ash had thought. He turned toward his friend but the ground type just shook his head, crooning softly.

Scorch looked just as confused as Ash felt, at least until Rhyhorn turned and rumbled to her. Ash could see her eyes go enormously wide as she brought her tails around to stare at them. Ash couldn't notice anything different, only that a few more of the white pieces of fur had been replaced by the reddish colors of her coat.

"What's going on?" He asked, stepping forward. Rhyhorn rumbled again, gesturing his horn toward Scorch. She was practically prancing around, eyes wide and barks cheerful. Ash took the sign as what it was and sat down, waiting to see what was making Scorch so cheerful.

After five minutes, Gale and Wraith reappeared. In his talons, Gale had gathered nearly twenty pounds of firewood. Wraith couldn't carry any and seemed slightly annoyed, but Ash guessed he had led Gale to the right places. Gale circled once, nine-foot wingspan casting an incredible shadow over the clearing, before he dropped all of the wood right in the firepit.

Rhyhorn rumbled, nosing the logs and sticks until they were all in the middle of the pit. Ash had never gathered more than a couple of logs for his fire and Gale had gotten nearly four times that. If they wanted a bonfire, they were going to get one.

Scorch looked toward Rhyhorn once for confirmation before shooting several embers toward the fire. It caught quickly, and in a few minutes was a steady, crackling flame. Scorch didn't wait a moment past that and dove directly into the fire.

Ash frowned. Most nights, Scorch did sleep in the fire, keeping it burning as well as strengthening her flash fire. Rhyhorn and him had had some good laughs about actually feeding her sticks to keep the fire going, which, according to his pokedex, was perfectly safe. But he had never seen her so excited to actually be in the fire.

The fire redoubled in size, hot enough that he and Gale had to move backward. He could hear Scorch's happy barks echoing past the crackle of flames.

Another minute went by, and Scorch reappeared from the fire.

Ash immediately ran closer, though he didn't touch her immediately, letting her cool down. Rhyhorn was right by his side, rumbling quietly. She yipped back, incredibly pleased. Gale gave an almost quiet chirp for him, bobbing his head and smoothing back his crest. Wraith made his own congratulating hiss, gesturing roughly with his gases. Scorch accepted it all with the proud look she had had when he captured her.

When she finally turned to face him, he understood why.

Instead of four beautiful tails, there were five.

xXx

Ash grinned and sped up slightly, Rhyhorn rumbling in protest. In the distance, he could see a traveling pack of trainers, several of their own pokemon traveling beside them. A graveler, ponyta, and a rather rare nidorina - all of which he wanted to battle. Rhyhorn did an impressive job of rolling his scarlet eyes and lumbered after him.

They were only the first of the battles Ash had. He tried to challenge everyone that came within a mile of his team and while a few turned him down, most agreed and some were just as excited as he was.

All of his pokemon were getting stronger, Wraith in particular. Now that he had a trainer actually willing to release him for more than battles, he was progressing in leaps and bounds.

Scorch stopped dead. Ash frowned and turned around, head tilting. She was standing by the side of the road, eyes perked and tails twitching. Her attentive gaze was fixed somewhere to their left, past the neatly mowed grass and into the sparse forest.

Ash looked down. "What is it?"

She barked at him, curling her tails forward into a battle stance. A grin spread over his face. While battling trainers was fun, he was just as ready for whatever pokemon Scorch had sensed asking for a fight. Quickly telling the rest of his pokemon, they made a sharp turn and walked toward the wall of trees.

Scorch led the way, yipping to get his attention every time he almost went a wrong direction. Rhyhorn lumbered beside him, breaking down every branch or brush in his way. Ash grimaced. Something was pounding away inside of his head, lining up almost perfectly with Rhyhorn's footsteps. Ash was about to check whether Wraith was too close - the ghost had a habit of getting distracted, and he could cause headaches when he didn't reign in his aura - when Scorch thumped his leg with one of her tails.

There, right in front of them, was a tail.

It was thin at the tip, though he could see it rapidly begin to thicken. The golden color it had was decidedly not the tone of prey, which would make sense with it throwing off enough pheromones for Scorch to sense. The tail twitched, rustling the branches. Whatever pokemon it was, it had crawled out of some bush, leaving its tail behind.

Ash blinked. The tip of the tail twitched again, golden fur catching the light. With every flash, his headache pounded a fiercer tempo inside of his skull. Whatever it was, it had something to do with the Mind Arts Trio.

Rhyhorn rumbled by his side but he raised his hand, stopping the ground type. The owner of the golden tail didn't seem to have realized it was visible, twitching the end and rising somewhat. Ash crept forward, scanning for branches around his feet. Rhyhorn stayed behind - he wasn't exactly built for stealth - but Scorch managed to pad by his side, extrasensory keeping her eyes a brilliant blue.

The tail twitched, froze, and disappeared.

Ash blinked. Pushing past the bramble and striding forward, he came across a berry tree, the yellow-green sitrus berries peppering its surface. But several on one side were cleanly plucked, the stems barely broken. Whatever the pokemon had been, it had precision, as well as being able to use teleport or extremely fast.

But it was gone. "Scorch?" He asked, knowing the answer before he got it. She yipped and shook her head, eyes flicking in and out of extrasensory. Ash sighed but turned back toward the road, ready to continue going. The pokemon was gone now.

Two hours later, after a very entertaining fight against a poliwhirl, Scorch tensed again. Ash jerked but she was already running, flicking her tails for him to follow. Ash cursed and pursued, Rhyhorn hot on his heels. Gale swooped overhead but kept his shrieks to a minimum, and Wraith stayed behind them all. They weren't very stealthy but they were giving it a shot.

Wraith stiffened as they grew closer, gases tightly tucked next to his body and thickening. It confirmed Ash's guess of a Mind Arts pokemon, but that only made it more difficult. They were notoriously difficult to catch, and the ones found around Kanto were known for their ability to escape any battle they didn't want to be a part of.

Scorch spread out all five of her tails, jerking everyone else to a stop. She pointed with her paw behind a bush, where Ash managed to catch a glimpse of gold and brown fur before there was a _crack_ and it disappeared.

Rhyhorn growled in frustration and made to run deeper into the forest, but Ash slapped his hand behind his horn. "Not this time, bud," he said quietly, glancing down at Scorch. She shook her head again, enhanced senses pulling up nothing but the general rattata and pidgey. "Whatever it is, it's following us. I have a plan."

His nerves were high as he walked along the path, trying for casual and probably failing. It had been a long while since Scorch - or any of his pokemon - had sensed something worthy of a fight beside the odd pidgeotto or beedrill, and fighting Mind Arts pokemon was always a treat. So far, there had only been Sabrina's beasts and several drowzee he had fought, but all were wily and knew their way around their moves.

He had sent Gale to fly far overhead, practicing long distance while also presenting a less threatening figure. Wraith was strictly contained to Scorch, who was offsetting his ghostly output by using extrasensory. It provided a much more difficult challenge for her, trying to harness psychic energy when a base form ghost type was within three feet, but she managed to summon it in pops and bursts.

But he wasn't focused on finding the pokemon anymore. Instead, he wanted it to come to him.

Ash was starting to become concerned when the sun began itself graceful descent to the horizon, teasing him with its mocking dips and falls. Rhyhorn plodded assuredly ahead but Ash didn't have his confidence - he kept sparing glances toward the thinning forest even when he battled other trainers. There hadn't been so much as a flash of gold.

But at the five hour mark, thirty minutes from when Ash was going to turn in, Scorch abruptly slowed and smacked him with one of her tails.

He forced himself not to react, but adrenaline shot through his body. Whatever had been following them was close, but Scorch hadn't fallen into a battle stance yet. She shooed Wraith away in order to fully pull up extrasensory, slapping Rhyhorn on the flank to inform of the approaching pokemon.

Ash waited a minute before stretching, using it to quickly glance around. There wasn't another trainer as far as the eye could see and the forest was the closest it had been in a long while. The pokemon had chosen well. All he had to do was wait and see how it would challenge them.

In the end, it did so by teleporting.

There was the sharp _crack_ of thunder and a figure appeared on the road before them. Rhyhorn roared in shock and dug his claws in to stop, but as due to the plan, he didn't attack immediately. Scorch hugged close to Ash's legs but flexed her tails, and Ash could see Gale's shadow begin to circle overhead, growing larger and larger. Wraith hissed but stayed behind Ash, dropping the temperature a few degrees in his readiness.

Ash recognized it quickly. The kadabra was only slightly shorter than him, narrow eyes bright and pulsing with psychic energy. It stood stoically before them, head bowed slightly and tail twitching.

Neither side moved for several moments. Ash had guessed it would attack them but hadn't expected a frontal challenge. It seemed almost wrong to attack it without being provoked first.

"Hello," he offered. The kadabra flicked its eyes upward from Rhyhorn to him, face emotionless. "What do you want?"

It continued to stare at him, but he could see the visible strain in its eyes. An emotion similar to frustration flashed over its face and it closed its eyelids, focusing its power more. Ash guessed at its meaning and turned his head, staring at Wraith.

"Go to Rhyhorn," he said. Wraith was visibly torn between challenging one of his sworn enemies and obeying, but Ash's command wore over and he slithered over to his leader, gases still tightly restrained.

The kadabra's shoulders sagged somewhat and its eyes stopped glowing so harshly from behind its eyelids. It opened them and leveled its gaze at him, bright. Without Wraith's natural aura protecting Ash, it could do whatever it wanted. By the time he realized that might not be such a good idea, two of its claws twitched and there was pressure behind Ash's eyes.

 _Beast_ , a voice hissed in his head. It was monotone but exhausted nonetheless, crackling at the end of the word. Ash traced its gaze and found the black pupils trained on Wraith, who growled back in return. The two voices clamored for space inside of his head and he grunted in pain, to which Wraith immediately backed off. But Wraith's voice, even in his base form, was much stronger and more cleanly developed. Ash frowned.

The kadabra didn't have a spoon. Its wide claws gripped nothing and the so-called 'alpha waves' kadabra projected were barely giving him more than a slight headache. Despite its stable appearance, the psychic type was tired. Judging by the far too thin tail, the underdeveloped shoulder plates, and the short mustache, the pokemon had evolved very recently. Maybe even within the week.

But it was ready to fight. For several first stage pokemon, such as horsea, abra, and almost all baby pokemon, the size difference between them and their evolution invoked powerful brain growth. The kadabra, before it had evolved, had lived most of its life hiding, eating, and sleeping, but when it finally was strong enough to evolve, it suddenly had far more brain power to develop to actually living.

For several pokemon, they used that extra brain power to find their spot on the food chain. The kadabra seemed to be one of them.

"You want to fight Wraith?" Ash asked, gesturing to the ghost. He hissed back, the sound throbbing alongside Ash's blood.

Kadabra shook its head ever so much, twitching one of its ears. It curled its claws back, eyes gleaming with power once again. _Fight_.

Ash couldn't help the grin that spread over his face. If it wanted a fight, it was going to get one.

"Wraith, stay back," he warned, holding his hand up. The gastly hissed, pupils rising in a question. But Ash was resolute. At the stage he was in, Wraith was the most dangerous to any psychic pokemon because he couldn't control his energies. A single hit from the kadabra might knock him out if it was powerful enough but the psychic would be drowned in ghostly energies and in incredible pain. Besides, it wouldn't be a fair fight, and not just because of skill differences. "Rhyhorn, you're up."

Kadabra's eyes gleamed with interest as the ground type lumbered forward, growling a challenge. It rose a few more inches above the ground, claws curling in on each other and tail pointing down to steady itself. As an abra, it probably never moved much - it didn't seem used to it now. But the blue gleam behind its eyes was impossible to ignore.

Ash almost opened his mouth to command for spite but then he stopped. Kadabra wanted to test itself - he wasn't going to take away that by crushing it easily. In hindsight, he might have wanted to avoid choosing his strongest friend, but this could be a training exercise too. "Shock wave, bud. Use up the last of your stores and then switch to rock blast. Keep it guessing."

Rhyhorn rumbled his response and concentrated, the tip of his horn beginning to crackle a pale yellow. He hadn't been practicing that move too much ever since perfecting it on Route 5 but his stores were still low. With a roar, he released the lightning and immediately charged a different direction.

The shock wave twisted toward where Kadabra was standing but it teleported out of the way with little effort, the only sign of its inexperience the tremendous _crack_ it brought along for the ride. Rhyhorn wasn't experienced enough to have the electricity follow it after teleporting so he fired off another shot, forcing it to cut off whatever move it had been preparing and teleport away again.

Ash nodded, taking a step back and letting the two of them duke it out. Kadabra managed to raise some sort of barrier when Rhyhorn took too long to charge another shock wave and the electricity bounced harmlessly off, almost falling like water to the ground when it encountered the powerful psychic energy.

Rhyhorn rumbled in confusion as a vibrant blue suffused his form. Memories of Sabrina's gym came back and he began to summon the ghostly energy of spite, breaking up the psychic prison.

Kadabra fully closed its eyes, pupils glowing cyan. Rhyhorn fell harshly to the floor, rumbling in annoyance before using rock blast to dig himself out of the slight hole he'd created. Using a widespread attack, he flung the stones to the most likely places Kadabra would teleport to.

He nailed two hits across its stomach, throwing it to the ground. Kadabra didn't make a sound but Ash got a sudden flash of frustration through his mind, at least before it abruptly broke off once again. It raised its claws, twitching each one as the same stones Rhyhorn had flung at it wobbled into the air. Eyes narrowing, it flung them rapidly, pausing a second to be sure of the aim before launching.

Rhyhorn, as retaliation, launched an enormous flamethrower to halt the rock's process. The rocks slowed and stopped, collapsing to the ground far more misshapen than they had first been. Ash took several steps back from the heat, twisting the cap of his hat downward to block most of it from his face. By the time he looked again, Rhyhorn had finished, not a scratch on him and a rather proud expression on his face. It had taken him a while to be able to put that much power behind his elemental attacks.

Kadabra twitched both of its ears back in a clear sign of anger, eyes narrowing further. It straightened its tail before thrusting one claw out, the point gleaming in the reflected light from its eyes. Both of its eyes closed and it lowered to the ground, pushing all of its energy into one attack.

Balls of light began to appear around it. They were small, perhaps half an inch across for each one, but there were more than a dozen. Each was evenly spaced in a sort of half-circle over Kadabra's head, throbbing with bright psychic energy. It opened its eyes and Ash got an unmistakable flash of smug satisfaction.

Rhyhorn looked up just in time to see nearly fifteen psybeams rocket toward him. He was instantly consumed in a brilliant spotlight, his roar of pain only accenting the explosion of so much energy.

Kadabra turned to him, eyes alit with pride. It raised a claw as if gesturing for another opponent when Ash started laughing.

It jerked away from him, ears flat, but Ash was instead staring at Rhyhorn. The ground type was wriggling on his side from where the psybeams had thrown him. His plates were burned a crisp black and there was even a sliver missing from his more delicate chest plate, but Ash couldn't focus on them. He waved his arms and legs around but couldn't manage to right himself, flopping like a landed magikarp. Ash kept laughing and laughing until he heard a pleading croon from his starter, who actually made it sound pathetic despite being a several hundred pound fighting pokemon. Sighing, he trotted over and began to push between Rhyhorn's spines. With a crash like a falling tree, Rhyhorn landed right side up, still looking very put out.

Kadabra actually made a hissing sound and Ash dimly realized he had ignored it. "Sorry," he said, walking back over. "Would you like to keep going?"

Its eyes traced a slow line over to Rhyhorn, who was standing beside him. It was obvious its attack had done some damage - Rhyhorn favoured his left leg and the black burns marks were stark against his grey plates, but he was still up and moving while Kadabra had shoved a lot of energy into the attack.

It shook its head, eyes staring unblinkingly into his face. Ash couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable but after a moment, it broke the stare and turned back to Rhyhorn.

Ash shrugged, more for Rhyhorn than himself. Wild pokemon challenged him all the time and though they normally fled directly afterward, Kadabra didn't seem threatening. It had just wanted the battle. He stroked Scorch behind the ears, promising her the battle and turned to leave. If Kadabra acted up, he knew Gale could finish it quickly, and Wraith had plenty of energy to shut off its psychic powers.

Something tugged on his bag. He frowned, looking down at Scorch, but she had turned around and was facing Kadabra, tails flexed. Ash spun, ready to command. His mouth opened to shout for Gale to go in from above as he made to direct Wraith-

Instead, he turned just in time to see Kadabra tap a floating pokeball with one claw and get sucked inside.

He blinked.

The pokeball fell to the earth and began to twitch, although not violently. Ash could only guess it was similar to Kadabra poking it, testing the waters to see what was happening. After a minute of shocked silence, it pleasantly dinged successful and sat there.

Rhyhorn rumbled and walked forward, nosing at the red and white sphere. He was still moving stiffly so Ash pulled him back, grabbing a potion and beginning to pour it in the cracks between his plates. Though he wasn't too injured, it was always good to make a powerful first impression for their apparent new partner.

He wasn't complaining. Every trainer knew the strength of the fearsome alakazam, and Sabrina had grilled respect for kadabra as well into his brain. But while it had been upset at Rhyhorn surviving its attack, it hadn't had the pride of Scorch nor Gale. He didn't know why it had joined him.

Nevertheless, he guided his team off of the route to avoid any other trainers. Scorch and Rhyhorn were closest to him with Gale and Wraith flanking them both. Hopefully, it wouldn't make Kadabra feel trapped, with only a half-circle instead of a full. Pulling out his pokedex, he scanned the pokeball in his hand.

 _Kadabra, the psi pokemon. It emits alpha waves, which are capable of producing strong headaches and causing machinery to fail. A silver spoon can amplify its power, and closing its eyes even more so. It is extremely intelligent._

 _This kadabra knows the moves teleport, barrier, confusion, psybeam, flash, and kinesis. Its ability is synchronize, which allows it to project the pain of status conditions onto other pokemon._

He nodded. It was a small movepool, but that was hardly surprising given its young age. There were several gaps in its prowess he had to cover, but it was a strong pokemon.

Well, not it. He toggled a button and found its gender - female. That was rather rare, as the abra line was almost three-quarters male, which led to females being highly prized. Maybe that was why she had evolved, to protect herself from others of her species. It had been known to happen.

Ash shot his team a look and pressed the release on the pokeball. It felt almost strange that he hadn't been the one to catch this pokemon in a way very different than Wraith, but he shoved it aside to meet her.

Kadabra emerged hovering, tail twitching to help her regain her balance as she stared at them all. Her eyes flicked to each of them in turn, lingering on Wraith and Rhyhorn in particular. She turned her gaze back to Ash, waiting.

"My name is Ash," he said, before pointing to each of his friends. "If you'd like, I'll be your trainer. Is that what you want?"

She nodded her head, ears twitching. They seemed to be the only part of her body that moved regularly, everything else supported by thick coils of psychic energy.

"Well then." He paused. Except for Scorch, no one else had accepted him as their trainer quite so easily, and even she had fought and struggled beneath him. "Would you like a nickname?"

Kadabra's ears flicked up at the word, and she inclined her head the barest of inches. Ash didn't have a lot of ideas, but every starting trainer dreamed of an alakazam. But she didn't like the names he had gathered. It took him a while to understand but the names he was giving her were simple. Like Gale was named after wind, or a wraith was a type of ghost, those names were not for her. She wanted something with meaning. When he offered the right one, she latched onto it.

"Karma."

And just like that, she was in.

Ash made sure to introduce everyone thoroughly. She took to Scorch and Gale the easiest, using a burst of psychic energy to ruffle both of their feathers and fur. Ash had read somewhere that since their heads grew for as long as they were alive, they couldn't walk or else their spine could snap beneath the weight, and so they used their psychic energy like a set of hands.

Rhyhorn had a little less acceptance, though she seemed to drop her grudge quickly. He grunted his greeting and, when she responded, began to introduce her to the apparent laws of the team. Ash didn't know them all himself - it was a little difficult to interpret fully formed ideas instead of emotions from a hunk of living stone - but he could guess. Karma nodded at the end and Rhyhorn mirrored it, apparently satisfied.

Wraith was the issue. Karma wouldn't, or couldn't, go within five feet of him.

The second she got close, her eyes flicked like a flashlight losing power and she drifted dangerously low to the ground. Wraith hissed in frustration but moved back - despite the anger all sides of the Trio held towards each other, they did understand their weaknesses and how to combat them. Karma was part of the team. He would do his best to be civil.

Ash saw the energy crackle around his pure white eyes and grimaced. Until Wraith evolved, he wouldn't be able to hold back his aura enough to let Karma use her powers near him. And, in order to combat the ghostly energies, she would have to extend her own aura - alpha waves - to create a bubble of safety.

He dimly realized he was going to have to buy a dragonite-sized load of headache pills if he was going to make it through training these two. At least it would most definitely help Scorch learn her moves better.

Ash didn't see a point in traveling any further. There weren't any more trainers now that the sun had said its final goodbyes and the only thing keeping Ash going was the gentle wind that brought the rich scent of the sea with it. Vermillion had its own seaport but those were tamed waters, bordered in by ports and walls and barriers. The waters by Bill's house was the true ocean, the one filled with the dangerous and unknowns.

Where he had stopped for the night was only a day's travel away from Bill's Sea Cottage. Route 25 was far from dangerous but he still picked a spot far from the route, a little break in the tall grasses that provided enough cover for him. Once everyone was fed - he used a bit of Gale's carnivore and Rhyhorn's herbivore mix to make an omnivore meal for Karma - he immediately jumped into testing the rest of Karma's moves. The problem with her became pressing clear.

She had power in spades. While she hadn't been able to show it with Rhyhorn, as she had already been exhausted from staying up that late when she was still used to her 18 hours of sleep as an abra, she had incredible amounts of endurance and the force to back it up. Ash guessed that once she was fully rested, she could contend on almost even footwear with Scorch. But she would still lose, and that was because of her lack of control.

Every move was given twice the strength it needed. A barrier that could have stopped Gale's razor wind to stop an ember. She likely had just scratched the surface of the increased brain power her evolution had given her but instead of taking the time to work things out and figure out how to live as a kadabra instead of an abra, she had jumped straight to challenging the nearest trainer.

Ash could respect that. He just wasn't quite sure on how to train it.

While the ocean was incredible, there was a second reason he was traveling up Route 25 now. He could wait several days if needed to speak with Bill, but the hands-on experience from a researcher would trump even calling up Professor Oak, though he was definitely also doing that once he got back to Cerulean City. But for right now, Bill was a much closer resource to utilize.

Karma tilted her head to the side, claws glittering in the reflected light of Scorch's flash fire. The vulpine barked a command and released an ember from her newest tail - it was always good to exercise it the most to make sure it was on par with her others - letting it drift toward the psychic.

She held her paw up, concentrating. A barrier appeared in front of her, bright but colorless, looking almost like the wavering lines of heat. Scorch guided the ember to hit it solidly in the middle. As usual, the barrier held strong.

Ash sighed and leaned further back on Rhyhorn's plates, a blanket between them to prevent any pinching. The ground type was relaxing but his eyes were keenly fixed on the newest member of the team, scarlet gaze bright.

He smiled and began to dig dirt out of the cracks he could get to. "Karma wanted to join us. You can do your strong-leader thing, but don't try to actually scare her. She's probably even younger than you."

Rhyhorn rumbled, managing to roll his eyes in a surprisingly human-like motion. Ash laughed and slapped him behind the horn, hurting his hand far more than the pokemon. "Come on, don't try to lie! I know you were standing on tiptoe, trying to pretend like you were taller than her despite having to look up nearly two feet…"

He gave a roar of disagreement, which only sent Ash into peals of laughter. Rhyhorn looked extremely betrayed and shuffled half an inch away from his trainer, but there was a reason rhyhorn weren't known for their mobility while laying down. Ash easily scooted back to being next to him and laid there, listening to Rhyhorn's quiet grumbles of annoyance.

Gale untucked his head from beneath his wing and squawked something, apparently agreeing with Ash. Rhyhorn visibly blanched and roared back, trying to defend his honor. Ash just smiled and let the sounds wash over him, staring up at the gentle night sky.

xXx

It was nearing evening by the time Ash caught sight of the ocean through a break in the trees. All of his pokemon spooked when he shouted in excitement and began to run, heading toward the glittering inch of blue between two pines.

The sun sat on an angle, shoving its gleam beams directly into his eyes, but the expanse of sea was still a beautiful sight. Perched on a hill as he was, he could see for almost hundreds of miles with nothing but pure, shining blue, waves crashing against a distant shore.

Scorch padded forward and sniffed, turning her nose up at the salty sea air. There was only a touch of it now but Ash knew that as they got closer, it was likely to be almost as distracting at Celadon's mint and berry scent. Already, he was jittery.

He loved the sea.

Karma floated serenely up beside him, only giving the ocean a glance. She had probably lived her whole life next to it, hearing the crash of waves and treating it like Ash treated the chirp of pidgey. She turned toward him, confused at the stop. He sighed, looking over the Muryo Bay. Ash knew he would be closer to it soon, but some part of him wanted to stand up here forever, catching the rays of light and sending them to dance over the water, controlling the waves and where they crashed. He could see far between the water, see where the wild pokemon lived and where they breathed and played and hunted, but the waves were his and he laughed alone with them-

Rhyhorn rumbled, nosing against his leg. He jerked, shaking his head and turning back toward the path. If they were going to make it to Bill's house, they had to keep moving. Still though, the Bay called to him like a living thing. Maybe it was because of the two Trio pokemon he had on him, but he distantly realized that the fantasy he had just had was not his own.

Bill's Sea Cottage was a surprisingly quaint little thing, two stories but sprawling. Its yard was neatly taken care of by some grass type and he could see some sort of porch in the back, but for now all he cared about was the front door. He recalled all of his pokemon, ignoring Rhyhorn's annoyed huffed, and knocked.

It took nearly two minutes for someone to answer, though he didn't knock again. The door was suddenly flung open, nearly smacking him across the face. Suddenly his ears were full of apologies even as he tried to focus on who was in front of him.

The man was only a little taller than him, and the sort of lean body style that spoke more of a healthy diet than exercise. His brown was loosely contained in a short cut and looked like it hadn't been brushed in several years, and his clothes were much the same. But his eyes were bright and sparking.

"What can I do for you, young traveler?" He asked, sporadically twitching from one position to the next. Ash was more than a little concerned he was going to explode if he didn't find something to do.

"Um, I just captured a new pokemon, and I was hoping you could help me. I heard you're an expert on the abra line."

Bill visibly perked up. "'An' expert on the abra line? I am _the_ expert! Come in, come in!"

Ash wished he could ride away on Rhyhorn. Even after a few days on the road, he wasn't used to such… enthusiastic human company. Nevertheless, he nodded his head and walked inside, closing the door behind him.

Bill's house had an enormous opening room. At least, it would have been enormous if it wasn't stacked high with machines and folders. Every wall had a bookshelf lined with folders and books alike, some so tightly crammed Ash wondered how the man had gotten them in. Most of the floor was neatly arranged, each book opened to a specific page, but that wasn't the issue. Bill was organized - he just was doing too much.

He didn't make an apology for the mess, getting straight to the deal. "So what did you capture?" He asked, clapping his hands together. "We've got a few abra around here, but they mainly stick to themselves. A kadabra, right? There was some sort of attack in the Bay that caused a few to evolve."

"Yeah." He held up her pokeball, frowning. Was he supposed to release her? The room was far from open.

Bill shook his head. "No, not yet! Did you not see the pokedex entry?" Ash blinked but nodded his head. "They _ruin_ fragile machinery when they aren't well trained! Besides, I've barely asked you any questions!" There was a wry grin on his face. "Trainers, always so impatient."

Ash colored. "I'm sorry."

"None of that." Bill flapped his hand, looking around. "Alright. When did you capture it?"

"Last night. She actually captured herself, I mean. She asked for the battle and then took one of my pokeballs later."

Bill chuckled. "Definitely part of the abra line, then. They're well known for making their own decisions. What's your problem, then? I doubt it's an unwillingness to listen to you."

"She doesn't know how to control her powers, I think," he said. "Karma evolved recently and she uses way too much force for really simple moves."

"Ah!" Bill nodded, his grin fading away to a more complentative expression. "Well kid, there's actually not much I can do. She just needs some growing in to do, and I can't speed up time - at least not yet. But I can give you some exercises for her to do and she should be able to pick up her powers. Teaching her new moves should help - she can use those to gauge her power level."

Ash sighed but accepted it. He had come here looking for a shortcut and he shouldn't have - Karma was going to take time, just like Rhyhorn had in the beginning. He wouldn't be doing either of them any favours by rushing it.

Bill seemed to understand his disappointment. "Hey, don't look so sad. Kadabra are notoriously powerful once they get a handle on themselves and yours seems like the type to find her place on the chain quickly enough. Here. I'll go write down some things to do."

He bustled off and Ash took the time to stare around the room. He couldn't make heads or tails of many of the things around but a few words jumped out at him - though only a few.

One pile of folders was on the Bracewear from Silph Co, something about flexibility. Another was on the chemical compounds of black sludge, with a hypothesis about grimer scrawled over the front. A third had a detailed diagram of some sort of new pokeball with the word heavy written several times. One had a cup of cooling coffee next to it, the books opened in a half circle around where Bill must have been sitting. Only one word jumped out to him on the paper.

Viper.

 _Each of Viper's little monsters were as high as a kite_. Surge had said that about the man who had the charizard and tauros, about the man who had led the attack on Vermillion City. Ash gave one glance to the doorway Bill had disappeared through and threw caution to the wind, jumping over a bunch of folders and beginning to read the list.

 _Unknown true name - last name possibly Duko_

 _Aliases - Viper, Pedro, Aya Duko (birth certificate destroyed but mention found)_

 _Relations - Duko family members, unclear if an alias_

 _Known pokemon -_

 _-High alert - Charizard, alakazam, tauros_

 _-Unknown power level - arbok, pyr-_

"Hey!" Bill blustered, coming back into the room with a paper in his hand. "That's confidential! You can't look-"

"Viper?" Ash asked, standing to his feet. "I'm really sorry, Bill, but I've fought him in Vermillion. I saw his name and I just-"

Bill calmed down in almost an instant, shaking his head. "Sorry, kid. Didn't expect it. I can't tell you too much but you're _really_ not allowed to look at those papers." He scowled and nudged the closest folder. "Here I am, leaving all this in the front hall and just expecting people not to look…"

"No, I'm sorry. I just saw his name and connected it. I fought his tauros during the invasion." He couldn't help the heat spreading over his neck and cheeks. Why did he have to look?

Bill's eyes brightened. "Ash Ketchum?"

Ash blinked. "Um, yeah."

"I heard about you. From Jenny." There was a pause where neither of them seemed to know what to do. Bill figured it out and stepped forward, offering the paper he had been carrying. "Here. Don't try to do them all at once, but the couple at the top I bet she could do while traveling. Good luck."

Ash accepted the paper and just about bolted out the door. Even though the sea breeze called to him, he avoided Muryo Bay and turned back to the route.

xXx

Route 4 was a welcome change.

He had taken only a few days to get back to Cerulean, where he had called up Professor Oak and gotten much of the same instructions as Bill had given him. Karma was progressing well, but he hadn't felt comfortable putting her in any trainer battles beside those with his team. She exhausted herself far too quickly.

At the current moment, one word was her limit. Even with Wraith recalled or far away, the ghost had left a sort of stain on his mind, a bond only found in the Trio. Over time, Karma would leave one as well, but until that moment, she could only communicate in draining bursts, and Ash had held off it. While he knew that not having to speak in battles would give him an incredible bonus, he contented himself with dreaming about it and help Karma find her feet. Figuratively.

Route 4, however, was perfect for his other pokemon.

Trainers ran common through the route, heading through or around Mount Moon to challenge Pewter and Cerulean. While both towns were not high in non-trainer tourism, the two gyms were some of the nicest, at least below three badges. And, with it still being rather early in the season, some people had chosen the strategy of training for weeks with their pokemon before going out and starting to challenge gyms.

Ash had thought about it, but he liked the thrill and adrenaline of gym battles too much to just train endlessly. Besides, if he had done that, Karma would never have started to catch up.

He let out Karma to watch most of the battles he did, letting her see the strategies he used and how Rhyhorn battled. She seemed to look up to him the most after he had exhausted her, almost mimicking some of his actions to the side.

She had managed to learn reflect, which was only a weaker version of barrier but more suited toward physical attacks. Gravity was coming along but it was still in progress - it was a move that involved her manipulating the environment instead of just her psychic energy, which she didn't have too much control over.

He had wanted to teach her zen headbutt as some sort of close range move but decided against it. She would only have access to the move for a short while, because her head would just keep growing. While that seemed like an advantage, the truth was that if she started to attack with her head, there was a chance she could snap her spine while doing so, which wasn't exactly a risk Ash was going to take. He would have to rely on teleport to get away if a pokemon got too close.

Route 4 was about a week along, which worked out well for him. He had bought nearly every battery he could afford in the Pokemon Center and he was, Arceus help him, going to figure out what he needed to make creating electricity click for Rhyhorn. He had also started training on earth power when he wasn't charging electricity, which was his first actual ground type move.

Ash had felt the sting of guilt when he realized that. The rhyhorn line were the only pokemon to have ground before rock in their typing, and here he was ignoring his starter's most quintessential part.

But there was a reason for that. Ground moves were only just behind dragon moves in difficulty to learn.

For most moves, it involved taking something and making it their own, controlling it and directing its path. Rhyhorn, no matter his power, could not control the earth. It was there long before his birth and it would be there long after, no matter how much humans and pokemon shaped it pretended they were in charge. Ground moves - although not really the simpler ones like drill run and sand attack - involved _asking_ the earth to move, exercising your will over the endless surface of the world and hoping it would comply.

That was why he had avoided the moves until now. And even as strong as earth power was, it was only a precursor to the move he wanted to teach - earthquake. One of the most powerful moves a rhyhorn could learn. Rhyhorn's look of growlithe-eyes when he heard of it had nearly sent Ash over the edge, but he had managed to contain his laughter to finish explaining earth power. Before he could destroy the earth, he needed to understand how it worked and moved.

Gale was sticking to heat wave and Scorch to extrasensory, and Wraith had flitted from move to move before settling on dark pulse. He had wanted payback first, but Ash knew the dangers of a move that needed him to be hurt to work. Where he was right now, if he got hit at all, that could end the match quickly. Dark pulse, while more difficult to learn, was a long-range attack he needed. He had only made a little progress with the dark energy, however, and Karma got twitchy every time she was near him. Gale had tried to help but the avian didn't have the best grip on it himself. For Scorch, however, he knew he needed to teach her finishers. Where she was now, he could only imagine fire spin, flame blast, or iron tail working. The first two weren't that strong and the third wasn't in her element but she didn't have the firepower for flamethrower yet, not until she had six tails. But he couldn't make up his mind on which one to teach her yet, so he focused on extrasensory.

By the end of the week, he could see Mount Moon above. It was a towering thing even though he could only see it through the breaks in clouds, silvery-white revealing a cold, uncaring grey. In his mind, he knew that Mt Silver was bigger, but in the moment, he couldn't imagine anything peaking above the mountain that stood a few miles before him. Even though he wasn't at the base, his neck cricked from looking up.

It was colder as well. The last remnants of salty breezes had long disappeared once he fell into the shadow of the behemoth and even the sun fled its lofty throne to only illuminate the mountain from behind, giving it an almost ethereal look.

Ash was not entirely sure he didn't want to just walk around it, but the enormous stretching sides it had helped convince him. Beside, while he didn't want another pokemon after having just gotten a new one, there were plenty of battles to be found inside.

The Pokemon Center before the entrance was a fair bit smaller than the ones found in cities. Nurse Joy smiled quietly at him when he entered, sitting in a wide chair and staring out over the few trainers milling around the shop. He immediately headed in that direction, bringing up his pokedex to check his balance. The wince spread naturally over his face. It was enough to buy potions and food for the trip, but the batteries he had bought for Rhyhorn had sucked the last of his traveling funds. If he kept spending like that, he'd have to dip into the money he had set aside for TMs, which would be upsetting.

His pokemon didn't need a checkup and he wanted to make as much headway as possible through the mountain. The Sisters had presumably called Brock and he didn't want the gym leader to be any more prepared than he already was going to be.

The instant he walked in, he wished for another coat. Cold slithered up his sleeves and over his neck, chilling him to the point he released Scorch the next second just for the warmth. The Diglett Cave had been cold but nothing to this level, nothing to this intensity.

He knew the cold prickle up his spine was guilt. If he released Gale, the avian would hate it. If he didn't, he would be furious and upset.

Scorch yipped up at him, glaring at the walls as if she could chase away the stone. He released the rest of his pokemon, waiting a moment before letting Gale out.

The fearow moved to extend his wings, only to meet unforgiving stone. He immediately shrieked, the sound reverberating off of the cave. The next instant, he was making for the entrance still visible.

Ash held up his hand. "Stop, bud. Tell me now. Do you want to be released more or should I wait until we get out on the other side?"

Gale squawked, glancing around. His black eyes looked up but his beak got in the way, keeping him forced to look forward with wings tightly contained to his side. As miserable as he looked, he nodded his head determinedly on being let out. He didn't want to be left behind, even in the cave.

Ash recalled him, looked at his team, and nodded. It was time to move.

xXx

On the second day in, he knew something was wrong.

It wasn't just him, either. Every trainer he talked to mentioned the lack of geodude, which the cave was supposed to be known for. Paras were far more skittish than normal and even zubat colonies with multiple golbat stayed away from attacking trainers. Though no one had seen anything from the cleffa line, there also hadn't been any signs of them.

But no geodude. Ash hadn't even seen any shed stones from their outer shells, which they shaved off frequently in the wild. No boulders he stepped on flew up to attack him, no narrowed eyes from the walls of the cave. Although some tourists whined about the lack of an experience, Ash was nervous.

Geodude were some of the most common pokemon in Mount Moon. They wouldn't just disappear.

Around noon on his second day, he finally broke. Pulling out his pokedex, he tapped Surge's number and let it ring.

Thankfully, pokedexes didn't rely on the electric service most devices used but instead the psychic connection between devices kept under track by nearly five dozen psychic types around the regions of Kanto and Johto. Ash let Rhyhorn inspect a sort of pocket in the wall for pokemon and tucked himself and his team in it to stay out of the way, sitting next to the wall. Rhyhorn stood guard over the entrance and Scorch to the opportunity to tuck herself closer to him, warming his extremities. After nearly ten minutes, Surge picked up.

"The hell you want, Ketchum?" Ash didn't get the chance to answer before Surge kept going. "I'm up to my ears in challengers for these damn tickets. I don't have time for a friendship call-" The voice was distinctive. Ash didn't feel the need in checking his identity.

"I'm in Mount Moon. What pokemon did you say were drugged?"

Surge tapered off his rant, and Ash could practically see the man's narrowed eyes. "From the Vermillion attack?" He grunted, several fumbling noises coming from his side. "Why do you want to know?"

Ash gritted his teeth. "Tell me."

"Give me a fucking second," Surge growled. There was the sound of rustling papers before he spoke up again. "Fire, electric, rock, dark, and steel. We can guess the bastard Viper drugged his as well." The man paused, and Ash knew he was connecting some dots. "You said Mount Moon?"

Ash knew his heart was beating a staccato beat inside of his chest. "Every trainer I've come across has said there are no geodude in the mountain. I haven't seen any either."

There was silence on the other side.

"They were just drugging them because they couldn't use the psychic block on them. They're hunting specific types of pokemon for something."

Surge summed it up. "Shit."

xXx

Ash emerged from the cavernous depths of Mount Moon, a cloth wrapped around his eyes to safely adjust to the light. But he could feel sunlight resting on his arms for the first time in nearly three days and it was wonderful. He let Rhyhorn guide him to a safe spot and waited for the ten minutes to pass before he could remove the bandages.

The first thing that got him was the colors. It was wonderful to see greens and browns and blues instead of the cold grey of the stone. He sighed happily and dug his fingers through the soft earth beneath him, grinning.

Pewter City was only a few days away, enough time to finish building his strategy. Rhyhorn had gotten a much better sense of the earth when he was trapped inside of it endlessly, and his other pokemon had gotten experience fighting the trainers down there and the few golbat that wanted to pick a fight. Brock's pokemon were known for their incredible defense just as strongly as the gym leader himself was known for terrible puns.

But more than the excitement of the fight was the creeping sense about the rock types of Mount Moon. Doubtless, Surge had sent out an alert about them, as well as to those who were near any of the other types.

Rhyhorn crooned and bumped against his leg, jerking him back. He nodded, tapping his starter behind the horn, and turned to start walking down Route 3. The route was known for wild mankey packs that would attack travelers at the slightest provocation, which would be a good way to train his pokemon. Karma, he decided, would start battling before Pewter. She had earned it, her power much more contained in her moves, though she still tended to overkill her moves.

Even as he walked, even as he chatted with his pokemon, even as he stared up at the welcoming sun, he couldn't shake the feeling of terrible wrongness. The police officer in Vermillion had said that Team Rocket was a thing of the past and now it was stupid and could hardly plan more than a newborn weedle.

Weedle still evolved into beedrill, no matter how long it took.

xXx

 **So, this wasn't released on Christmas or New Year's Eve or anything, but it's close enough to the deadline I'll take the cookie. Thank you very much.**

 **There isn't as much description in this chapter as normal and I'm a bit worried my prose is escaping me, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The really interesting part about starting Ash in a different place is that I don't have to play catch-up to the SS Anne or the Team Rocket invasion of Mount Moon. Instead, I create my own events and show the canon ones after they already happened, because Ash wasn't there to stop them in the first place.**

 **I don't know. I enjoy it. Also! 100,000 words! We're catching up to Misfits. Actually, we're ahead, as Ash now has the same amount of badges but more pokemon. I guess.**

 **Also shoutout to Mateusz for his amazing reviews! He's been a big help for creating this story so go check out his story if you have time, it's incredible.**

 **Note: I have added a poll to my profile. While my plans for this story will come first, I would like to see how my readers feel about this. Feel free to vote!**

 **Also to the many, many people who caught my caterpie-beedrill mistake, thank you for trying to make me look like less than the fool I am.**

 **Please enjoy and review!**


	6. Revelations

"Okay, Karma. What's confusing you?"

She turned back to him, ears lowered flat to her skull. Though she rarely showed any emotion on her face, Ash could feel her frustration in a flicker of purple-red from the barest beginnings of a stain in the back of his mind. Clicking three of her claws together, she connected their gaze and narrowed her eyes.

Wraith was well across the wide clearing, and though he was practicing dark pulse, Karma had been mostly freed from his aura. It was visible in the more relaxed state of her shoulderplates and how her tail actually puffed out behind her and twitched occasionally. Karma swished her front right paw and something rose in the back of Ash's mind.

 _Break_. Ash frowned, scratching at the back of his neck. He hadn't anticipated gravity being such a difficult move to learn - it was classified as using psychic energy and wasn't technically an attacking move, so Karma didn't have to imbed aggression into the energy.

Then again, it was one of the clefairy's line signature moves. Those fairy type pokemon had a knack for the unexplainable, such as with their crazy move metronome. Gravity wasn't a common move found outside of the line and even the abra line had it listed as a 'special move', which required more effort to learn.

Karma extended her paw, claws clicking, and Ash jerked back to attention. "Right, sorry. You said break?" She inclined her head the barest fraction of an inch, eyes still narrowed pinpricks of light.

Ash had decided to spend a few days training without traveling. He had come over to help Karma when it was well before noon, hoping it would help her learn the difficult move. Psychic powers were often linked to sunlight, such as with the sunlight psychic type espeon. He was only a few days away from Pewter City and he wanted Karma to be a main player in the match. "Okay, break. Break. What do you mean, break?"

This time, he could see how her ear twitched back far sharper than normal, and couldn't help the grin that spread over his face. "Anger! Right?"

The flash of emotion across the back of his eyes was definitely exasperation but he just kept grinning. "Hey, I'm learning. If we keep this up, I'll be able to understand you when you can't talk to me!" Karma merely stared at him until he backed down.

"Fine, fine. Break. So your psychic powers are breaking when they try to change the gravity? Or can you not find it without your concentration breaking?" She twitched her tail on the first and didn't react on the second. He nodded at that, looking at the branch she was trying to influence. It was stuck in the ground at a slight angle, ready to be shifted by pressing gravity. So far, she had only managed to twitch it.

Ash frowned, looking at her neck. "Is it because you don't have a spoon yet? Do I need to go to Pewter City before we can do this?"

There, circling above her mottled brown chestplate, was a thin ring of silver. She had spent the entire time of Mount Moon searching for silver ore, but Wraith's aura had prevented her from finding very much. Rhyhorn had used his ground abilities to help her find some but it wasn't nearly enough to create a spoon. Right now, she was relying on the red gem in her forehead to focus her powers, but it wasn't nearly enough to allow her to spend the full force of her power. She stored the silver by melting it down and keeping it circling her throat, sort of like a necklace but much more important. In battles, it couldn't do much but distract her, so she molded it into a sphere and let Ash keep a watch over it when battling other pokemon. Whenever he stared down at the small ball of silver, he dimly guessed that this was like holding a child. He didn't want to know what Karma would do if he lost it.

However, Karma just shook her head. Her claws curled again, angling toward the stick. _Worl-_

Ash opened his mouth to speak but grimaced. A chill crept down his spine, teasing silvery fingers over his skin. He didn't have to look back to guess that Wraith had managed to form a semi-solid dark pulse - whenever the ghost properly accessed the dark energy, his aura leaked stronger to combat the darkness. Karma flinched back, floating lower on her cocoon of psionic energy.

"World, right?" He waited for her nod. "So you don't know how to influence your environment? That makes sense. All of your other moves don't have anything to do with that." He shrugged. "If it makes you feel any better, I think Rhyhorn's been buried for the past two days and hasn't managed so much as a pebble moving."

Her ears snapped up and he blinked. That was a much more direct form of communication. "I'm on the right track, then. Okay. So, without your spoon - sorry, _shine_ \- or any knowledge of how gravity actually works, you won't be able to use gravity right."

"Hey, that's okay." Her tail lashed - well, lashed for her, it was more of a gentle twitch - and her ears were flat again. "Everyone struggles with a move. You don't even have a spoon yet, and you managed to learn reflect. Beside, I have an idea."

She turned toward him from her flinched position, black eyes bright. "Until we get to Pewter, we can make a sort-of gravity. A fake one until you can learn how to do it right. Hold on, give me a sec."

Karma watched him quietly as he bustled off to his bag, a grin triumphant on his face. Despite his best efforts, he was left digging through the side pockets without a clue of where it was. Grimacing, he kept searching. "I know it's in here!"

There was the feather soft brush against his mind, his foremost thought reeled out like it was pulled by static electricity. The bag floated out of his hands, dimly glowing a soft blue. Ash watched as Karma easily found the folded piece of paper and pulled it out. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck as she rearranged the items he had shuffled around in his search.

He yelped as the paper slapped him across the face. Karma's voice - a quiet, fluttering thing - made a sound not unlike a chuckle in the back of his mind. Catching it before it could fall, he directed a faux glare at her still form.

"You've been quite the prankster, haven't you? Don't think I haven't noticed you flipping all of my water bottles upside down when I try to reach for them or my _mysteriously_ moving socks every morning." Her ears flicked back but instead of anger, Ash could see the subtle nuances that showed it was a conscious movement. He leveled a finger at her. "Oh, don't try and play innocent! I've already made plans for when you finally start trying to prank Rhyhorn."

The gleam that flashed through her eyes could not be described as sweet.

Stepping closer, he unfolded the paper, smoothing over the creases. Bill's handwriting was much neater than his way and he let a flash of envy go through him before he read off a few of the things written there. Creating barrier after barrier, stretching, stopping projectiles with confusion, enhancing her vision with kinesis as well as other pokemons', creating a more stable psionic bubble...

He shot her a look. "You promise you've been doing your psychic weight lifting with rocks? I didn't see much movement last night."

Though Karma only knew what it was from watching him, she did an amiable impression of rolling her eyes.

"Alright, alright. Can you make a barrier, and then a reflect next to it?"

She stared at him for a moment, but he couldn't read what she was thinking. Twitching her claws, the gem on her forehead flashing, two gleaming circles slid through the air to be in front of him.

One was barely more than a distortion in the air, a wavering afterimage, while the other was a brighter blue shine he couldn't quite see the edges of. When she was stronger, they would be visible as actual walls, only partially transparent, but she hadn't reached that yet.

He went for reflect first. It was the more breakable one, and when he pressed his hand against it, he could feel the pressure. Her eyes glowed as she struggled to strengthen it but he shook his head.

It took him roughly three punches to break it, the clear pieces shattering and disappearing before they could fall to the earth. Barrier took a fair bit longer - nearly fifteen strikes before it cracked as well.

Karma seemed thoroughly confused - or, at least, that was what her twitching tail was telling him - but he merely asked her to make another barrier, this was horizontal and a bit above his head. She twitched her paw and it formed, albeit more slowly than normal. He reached up - it was only a few inches above his hat.

"Okay, start bringing it down, slowly."

That took her a while. She had to actively reach out and reconnect the psychic energy from the barrier back within her before she could manipulate it, bringing her paws down as if she was directing it. He could feel it as a soft push against his head before it stopped.

"No, it's fine. Keep going. I'm testing something." She seemed far from convinced, one ear twitching back. "Seriously. If it gets too much I'll sit down or something."

Slowly, the pressure built up again. He grimaced as it pushed on, pressing harder and harder against his head. Karma kept her black eyes narrowed but twitched her claws faster, shifting it more and more down. Right before Ash was about to sit, the barrier shattered and fell around him.

He blinked, shaking off the psychic energy to dissolve. "Perfect! That's exactly what I was looking for. Look at this."

Karma drifted a few inches closer, angling her head down to stare at the paper in his hand. He pulled out his pokedex and took his third quick picture of the list written there - hey, he didn't want to lose it - before holding it out to her. "Tap the middle."

Hesitantly, she extended her paw and touched it lightly with her claw. The paper bent beneath her but didn't break, which Ash was kind of thankful for. "See, it isn't that strong. You can move it just by touching it, and if you put any sort of force I bet you could break it. But, if I do this, it's harder."

He folded the paper in half, then half again, offering it out to her. When she touched it, there wasn't any give, even when she increased the pressure.

"What I think you've been doing is adding one layer to your barrier, but if we add more, I think you can make it a lot stronger. What do you think?" He slipped the paper back into his pocket after she retracted her claw.

Her ears perked up, and she was extending a paw before he could blink. A ball of psychic energy appeared above her palm, a sort of rainbow color that constantly switched around. As he watched, she tilted her paw from side to side, and the ball slid to follow her, losing its shape and flattening out before jerking back up to a full sphere. He frowned. "So it doesn't have a definite shape?"

Karma spared a glance behind him - no doubt looking to see what Wraith was doing - before she connected their gaze. Her voice surfaced in his mind. _Blue. Drip. Wet_.

"Water?" He said, grinning. Three words were the most she had ever managed before! Though he knew she didn't understand every word, it was clear she was picking up how to describe them. When she twitched her ears in the sign of happiness, he continued. "Your psychic energy is like… water?"

Her tail flicked.

"So when you're controlling it, you're molding it like water? And when you want to use it for confusion or something, you guide it around your opponent and surround them? That works for most of your moves, actually. But what about barrier?"

Ash was almost giddy with excitement. He could ask Rhyhorn or Scorch how their elements worked all he wanted, but it would be almost impossible to understand. It had taken him almost forever to understand how Scorch accessed her ghost energies, and even now he only knew that she had had to kill in order to gain it. But with Karma, and maybe Wraith, he could actually begin to communicate.

She narrowed her eyes, lifting a claw. The ball of psychic energy abruptly switched colors to a gentle silver-blue, and stopped moving, going almost hard. He frowned, thinking, before it hit him. "You freeze it?"

Her movement could only be happiness. "Then this is great! Instead of adding more layers, you just need to add more 'water' to make it thicker! Freezing it will probably take a while longer, because you have to detach it from yourself, right? That's how barriers work? But can you imagine everything we could do with that?"

Karma twitched her ears but Ash was on a roll. "You could have a lot of water around you and when someone got close, you could freeze them in it! I wonder what that would do - would it actually freeze them or be more like confusion, catching them in psychic energy? Or is that how disable works? And if your barrier survives, you could maybe 'melt' it and get your energy back so you won't become as tired as normal! Oh, it's going to be so much easier to teach you now that I can _understand_ -"

Karma lifted his hat off of his head and hit him in the face again. While he was still spluttering, she dropped it back off of his head, and the purple-red in his mind was most definitely pride.

"Yeah, okay, I deserved that. But wow! This is going to be incredible!" He grinned, probably viciously, and rubbed his hands together. "New plan. Here's how we're going to use gravity…"

xXx

"Gale, you can't dodge these!" Ash shouted, hands cupped to his mouth. The fearow shrieked angrily in response.

Rhyhorn had offered himself, both out of charity and also to stave off his own training, to be the helper for a part of Gale's training. He growled his own commands to the avian, holding up another rock threateningly. Several rings of smack down and rock blast encircled him, ready to be fired.

Ash shook his head, raising his hand. He clenched his fist and whistled sharply, the sound reverberating through the sky. Gale gave up his overhead circle and dove, landing roughly with an irritated clack of his beak. Rhyhorn huffed and moved back to Ash's side, rather neatly setting the dirt and rocks in a small pile. Gale glared at him, crest extending as he shuffled closer to Ash in order to listen to him.

"I've explained mirror move to you before, right?" When he got a nod, he continued. "You can't dodge them. You have to try and flap them away."

Gale shook his head and shrieked a warning. Ash grimaced at the sight of his wildly puffed up crest feathers, the narrowed black eyes, his splayed tail. Gale was a proud pokemon, and there were few things he hated more losing, and Ash telling him he had to lose was not any better.

"Okay, new plan. Rhyhorn, pull up some rock blast here, please?"

Gale screeched testily as the rhino pulled up a small, fist-sized stone in front of him, holding it stiffly in between the two. "Gale, I want you to try and blow it away while Rhyhorn, try to throw it at him. You can't use razor wind, either."

Rhyhorn nodded his agreement and began to push the rock forward. Gale shrieked and immediately clawed a better hold into the ground, extending his impressive winspan and beginning to flap furiously. The rock trembled in midair, inching one way and then the other before being forced back.

Ash frowned as he saw the exercise. Where it was going, it was more like strengthening Gale's wings instead of actually learning the new move. Mirror move was classified as a flying type move because of the energy needed to use it, as well as the motion. But he just didn't know how to teach it.

He narrowed his eyes as he saw the rock move closer to Rhyhorn. An idea came to him. "Rhyhorn, release!"

The ground type dropped his control over the rock and it immediately sped back toward him, thunking against one of his spines. He rumbled, shaking off the few pieces that had splintered off, before looking back at Ash, who was grinning. In the last motion Gale had made when launching the rock back, he had seen gentle silver energy cover his wings. While weak, it had been the beginnings of the new move.

"Okay, new plan." He walked closer, both pokemon turning to him. "Gale, you're flying again. Rhyhorn, I want you to launch rocks, but immediately let go after you launch them. They might fall before Gale can get a hold of them but that's fine. Gale, you need to blow them away. Theoretically," he said, pulling out his pokedex and flicking to the mirror move page he had tabbed, "you should catch it in some sort of funnel your wings create. That should launch it right back at Rhyhorn, though I don't know how strong you'll actually be able to just yet."

Both voiced their agreement, Gale looking much more pleased with this agreement. Instead of Ash's vague commands beforehand, now he had an actual plan that, if he was successful, allowed him to hit Rhyhorn with his own rocks.

His crest fluttered in the way Ash knew would be a smirk on a human face. Rhyhorn rumbled good-naturedly but threw up a small cloud of dirt in the avian's face, prompting a squawk. Ash shook his head, grinning, and moved back. "Break in thirty. Get to it!"

Gale shrieked and took to the skies, wings pumping as he rose to his comfortable height of twenty or so feet off the ground, hovering there as best he could. Rhyhorn took his position below him, reaching for the pile of rocks he had already found and selecting one. With a rumble, he launched it quickly.

Ash settled back against a tree. He technically was going to spend another hour with the duo before moving onto Scorch, so he might as well do some research into training Gale. Pulling up his bookmarked page on fearow, he scrolled down to where he had last stopped and continued on.

 _The spearow line has incredible eyes, rivaling that of the pidgey line. The idea that they are colourblind is a complete myth and several scientists have proposed a theory that they might have more colour receptors than humans, as many as two. Most spearow and fearow have a special membrane over their eyes, beneath their eyelids, that blocks dirt, dust, and anything that can obscure their vision. They have been known to see straight through volcanic smoke as if it were nothing more than clear air, and sometimes have been known to hunt by kicking up dirt to confuse their prey before striking. Incredibly, they are not able to use the move sand attack, while the pidgey line is. This is theorized much along the same lines of why the pidgey line can use wind-based attacks such as gust and air slash. The spearow line evolved to use their bulk to use powerful physical attacks while the pidgey line, being smaller in their pre-evolutions, evolved to have more access to Mind Arts abilities. This also pulls into question the spearow line's ability to use several categorized dark moves-_

Ash jerked back to attention as Gale squawked above him, leaning down with a curious look in his black eyes. "Oh, sorry. I didn't realize it was break. How did it go?"

Gale shrieked proudly, crest extending. He stretched out his wings and waited. Ash got the hint and stood up, reaching down to grab a pebble no bigger than his fingernail. He tossed it lightly toward the bird, who instantly reacted. His wings gleamed white as he thrust them forward, creating a cone of wind that abruptly launched the pebble back toward Ash. It slapped him across the chest, bouncing off. There wasn't exactly any pain, but it was most definitely progress.

"That's great! I think with a few more days of training, we could really get your power up on that move. Then we could-"

Gale squawked and shook his head, beak flashing, before gesturing to his pokedex. Ash frowned for a moment before it hit him. "Not yet, bud, you know it. You aren't grown enough to use that move."

Ever since Ash had read out the list of moves he could learn, the bird had been addicted to the sound of drill peck. It was a dangerous move that involved the user spinning at high speeds before impacting with their beak, but the issue came with the strength needed to get back into the skies after attacking. If Gale wasn't strong enough, he would slam into his opponent and possibly break his wings. Despite the many stories Ash had to read to him, he seemed to think those rules didn't apply to him.

Gale shook his head, stomping one talon into the ground. _Now_ , he seemed to say. Ash had promised soon but that didn't seem to be what the avian wanted.

"I'll give you a time," Ash said, giving in. He stood up, gently moving Gale's beak out of the way to avoid stabbing himself, and crossed the clearing to his bag. Karma glanced at him, eyes shining with psychic power, before turning back to her exercise. Ash searched for a bit before finding his tape measurer, bringing it back over to where Gale was standing. "Wings, please."

Gale widened his stance to help support him as he extended his wings, the primaries twitching in a breeze as he fought to keep them straight. Ash wrapped one end of the survival measurer as best he could and pulled it across, repeating the process a couple times until he managed to get a solid measurement. 9.12 feet. He read the number allowed, grinning at Gale's proud squawk when he remembered most pidgeotto had wingspans of six to seven.

"When you reach ten feet across, we'll start learning that. Until then, stick to mirror move and training yourself to be stronger, okay? If you can learn it quickly enough, we'll try agility, too."

Gale still didn't look too pleased but at least he had a goal to work toward. Pokemon grew faster when they were working hard and Ash didn't doubt that Gale would throw himself into training.

Ash grinned and swatted his wing. "Break's up, bucko. Back to the air!" Gale shrieked back and took off, wings crowning the sun.

xXx

"I promise, I'm ready," he said, kneeling down next to Scorch. She whined, unsure, but he stroked her behind her ears and reassured her. "Besides, it won't hurt me too bad. Everyone else is working and I don't want to pull them from training. You got this," he said soothingly, standing back up.

Scorch had finally mastered the energy of extrasensory, including the actual attacking aspect of it. With enough concentration, she could successfully overwhelm her opponent's senses to cause them to flinch. But she hadn't been able to test it yet.

So here he was.

Scorch backed up a few feet, staring into his eyes with her grey-brown gaze. He smiled, steadying himself as she started to reach out with tendrils of psychic energy.

For her, she didn't have a focal point, so her powers would always manifest slower. As a ninetales, she could use the tips of her tails, but she didn't have the power yet to use them. He could see her eyes gleam a bright blue before the shade slowly crept over his own vision.

It was as if someone had flicked a switch. Suddenly, everything swarmed his vision in impeccable clarity, everything as bright and bold even in their dull colours. He swatted at a piece of dust that he could see every crater on, every imperfection despite it barely more than a speck. His gaze flicked sluggishly down and he could see Scorch, her reddish-brown actually a mix of an impossible amount of colours, each strand of fur a different shade, her iris' swimming with hues. He could see the pores on the tips of her tails that she released fire from, the gleaming silver-white-grey-cloud-steam-mist of her claws, the knots tying together along the insides of her cream-tan-brown-red undercoat, the-

He blinked, his vision returned, and found himself lying on the ground. Scorch leaped the distance between them in a single bound and pushed her nose against his side, yipping in concern. He shook his head, blinking away blue spots as the world crept back into focus. It was boringly, blissfully, normal again.

"I'm fine, girl. Just a bit startled." He grinned. "That'll definitely work. I wasn't able to fight you in the slightest!"

She seemed miffed at the very thought, flicking him in the face with her tails. That seemed to happen a lot. He was just happy she avoided his hat.

He took a few seconds to straighten himself out, testing each limb. His muscles were stiff and his eyes were dry, but half a minute and he was back to being good. "Are you ready for your next move?"

Scorch immediately perked up, ears twitching as she focused her whole attention on him. He pulled out his pokedex to the three moves he had saved for her, the three finishers she so desperately needed.

"I've already told you them; fire spin, flame burst, and iron tail. Are there any you really want to learn?" She shook her head, though he had seen her attention peak at the sound of the new element. Scorch was his most curious pokemon, though Karma seemed to be vying for that role.

"Personally, I'd like you to learn iron tail. You only have one physical move and while you aren't meant to get too close, if another pokemon does you need to be prepared. Besides, it'll help you out a ton for fighting rock and ground types. What do you think?"

Scorch curled her tails over to see them, staring as if she was imagining them being metal. After a moment, she nodded her head and yipped. Ash smiled and pat her head. "I need to do a few measurements first, okay?"

His tape measurer was still wrapped around his arm and he pulled it out, gesturing for Scorch to sit in his lap. She did so, peering back curiously as he stretched out of one her tails, being incredibly careful with the rather fragile part of her. Holding one end at the base, he found it measured a little less than two feet long, though the tip normally curled up, reducing it by a couple of inches.

"That's plenty for iron tail. See, what we have to do for that is get you to access steel energy - despite the name, it isn't iron-like at all, still steel - and spread it over your tail. With Karma always on the lookout for metal and Rhyhorn able to dig it up, we should be able to find you something to compare to. But before then, we need to-"

She smacked him in the face again and he jerked back, looking down. Her eyes were wide and he immediately let go of her, springing back and standing up. She shuddered for a few seconds before sneezing. And lit herself on fire.

Deactivating flash fire, she yipped an apology. He shrugged it off, brushing aside the still-warm fur on her forehead. "Thanks for the warning. An extra-crispy trainer doesn't sound too nice."

She stared him down, utterly disappointed in his joke. He chuckled, sitting back down here. "Alright, here's how we use iron tail. In order to do that, you have to cut off the flow of your internal flame to your tails, otherwise it'll 'melt' the steel energy. That's going to be a bit difficult to do, but I've got some ideas. First thing, a bat of some sort. If we get your tails wet, it should be easier to cut them off."

Scorch seemed entirely unimpressed with that idea, and he understood it. The vulpix line were famous as being one of the few fire type pokemon without an external source. Instead, they had their internal fire, which burned directly above their stomach and a bit below their trachea, connected by tendrils scientists were hesitantly calling 'fyrveins' to their tails and other extremities. They didn't have the fear of, say, charmander, who would become incredibly sick with a chance of death if their tail flame was ever put out, but they were also weaker to ice moves because it lowered their body temperature, much like how water did. But the system of metabolizing heat was what allowed them their ability of flash fire, but it was something else in their biology that allowed them their armor of living flames.

The growlithe line, which also didn't have an external flame, was far different. They launched their fire attacks from their mouth, and as such, they had a fire producing organ called the _kasaodo_ instead of an internal flame. Their body temperature was actually quite regular because of it. Their flash fire was activated at all times, as it worked through a secondary layer of skin that funneled all flames they were hit with into energy to feed the _kasaodo_ instead of harming them.

Both flash fires had their pros and cons. Scorch could use hers to burn her opponents but if she was distracted or too wet to activate it, she could be hit by fire attacks. The growlithe line was just always protected, but it didn't have the possibility of burns with physical contact.

Funnily enough, it was her internal flame that forced her to need a fire stone to evolve. Fire stones were magma trapped inside solidified stone, only found near active volcanoes. Thunder stones were formed when lightning struck sand, trapping the powerful electricity inside glass. Water stones were actually the easiest to find, as they were simply purified water pressurized enough the outer layer froze. The point was that each evolution stone had a part of their element inside of it, which was what Scorch would need. She would eat the fire stone and her internal flame would be expanded beyond anything she had ever had by the magma, forcing her to evolve. In the wild, suitably powerful vulpix would try to evolve by basically swimming within magma, but fire stones were much safer.

Scorch shook her head at Ash's blank expression. Her trainer thought so hard about training them that he sometimes forgot to get started.

xXx

"What do you think? Is your head more of a triangle or a rectangle?"

Rhyhorn didn't answer.

Ash leaned farther back along his spines, attempting to draw his starter on the back of Bill's piece of paper. So far he had managed a roughly rhyhorn-shaped thing but now that he was adding details, he was feeling far less confident that anyone would recognize the graphite scribbles. "Seriously. Triangle, right?"

The ground type twitched from where he was buried in the ground, and Ash could swear he felt his bright scarlet gaze even though he was sitting on his back. Rhyhorn had been less than pleased when Ash had suggested adjusting to the power of the earth. Asking him to dig a hole with rock blast had been easy, situating him inside of the divut had been a little more difficult, but actually convincing him to bury himself? Hard.

Rhyhorn had tried to dig himself out with rock moves beforehand, but Ash had stopped him. In order to gain access to the ear of the earth, Rhyhorn had to first acknowledge its power before his. The rhino wasn't nearly as prideful as Gale, but he was still well aware of his power and his only few loses. Ash was fully expecting it would be a while before Rhyhorn finally relented.

The issue wasn't that he was actively trying to not train. He just wasn't used to giving up control in order to ask the earth to move. Wild pokemon learned from a young age that they were not at the top no matter their position on the food chain. Rhyhorn had just been captured by Giovanni too early to learn that particular lesson. Few other pokemon besides dragon and fairy types had to work so hard to gain access to their element, and ground types were high on that list.

He reclined farther back, rearranging the pokedex under the paper to have a flat surface to draw on. His pencil was slowly wearing down and he didn't have a sharpener. He'd need to fix that in Pewter - drawing was actually a fun pastime while his friends were training.

Rhyhorn roared in frustration, trembling under Ash. His plates clanged against each other as he tried to almost shake his way out of the earth, scarlet eyes glowing with anger.

Ash stood up, getting out of the seat. He knelt by his starter, placing the paper and pokedex to the side to place his hands on Rhyhorn's faces on either side of his horn. "Come on, bud. Tell me what's wrong."

His starter looked sad and lost. He was buried up to his chest, only his head and upper spines actually showing through the newly-turned dirt. Rhyhorn was visibly upset with his lack of progress and was a strange mixture of frustration, sadness, and anger, at least what Ash could read in his eyes.

"I need you to relax, Rhyhorn. You won't be able to do this when you're upset with it. Do you remember what earth power is?" He touched behind his pokemon's horn, who reacted neither to his words or his touch. Ash sat fully down, leaning against the ground type's head. He closed his eyes, mind pulling up the image of the pokedex page he had found.

"Earth power is often the second or third ground type move pokemon learn, but for those among the nidoran, geodude, and onix lines, it is often one of the few ground moves they have access to. It involves fully integrating with the earth, very different than other moves such as sand attack or drill run. For those where it is the second or third move, simply teach them to emphasize their connection to the earth. It is better to have them overestimate rather than under, so have them offer more of their energy before teaching them to restrain themselves."

Ash scratched the back of his neck before continuing speaking, the only sounds the distant shrieks of a training Gale and the ambiance of the forest. "For those just beginning to train their ground type, it is very important to get them to know the earth is their better. Show them records of how little we have shaped the earth in the many years we have been here. Ask them to attack the earth, let them destroy one section, then show them how much more there is. Teach them who truly rules." Rhyhorn grunted at that, turning his head as best he could and closing his eyes.

"A ground move is a suggestion. It is asking the earth to move for you command. It is a request, an inquiry, an appeal. But whatever it is, it is not control, and you must teach your pokemon that."

Ash gave up on the pokedex entry and began speaking himself. "I think I know your issue, bud. Do you remember when we first met?"

Rhyhorn blinked at that, turning toward him and rumbling a question. Ash settled deeper against his exposed spines, thinking back to the best moment of his life. The time he met his best friend. The time he became a trainer. The time he started toward the overarching goal of his life.

"You only had one move back then, and you were so short I had to sit down to look you properly in the eyes! Everyone else was going for the sandshrew because it had a special move but I went right to you first. All you wanted in life was to get out and explore the world, to grow strong and be powerful. But I didn't ask you to be strong for me. I didn't ask you to fight. I didn't ask you to follow my commands loyally. I asked you to be my friend."

"We became friends that day, no matter whether you won me battles or listened to me. We're a team. And every time we caught a new member, we became friends with them, too. Friends."

He moved back to stare Rhyhorn fully in the scarlet eyes. "What you're doing is telling the earth to do what you want. You should be asking it to be your friend, just like I did, just like you did."

Ash opened his mouth to speak more but Rhyhorn bumped against his side and he shut up. Standing up and grabbing his paper and pokedex, he hurried away from his trapped starter and out of the danger zone.

Rhyhorn shut his scarlet eyes and pressed his chin against the ground. He relaxed his muscles and seemed to sink deeper into the earth, appearing as just a grey mound on the brown dirt. Ash frowned as something trembled beneath his feet, the pebble Rhyhorn had been focusing on beginning to rock against the ground. Rhyhorn's eyes snapped open and he roared, the earth shaking beneath him.

Ash gaped as dirt began to fall off of Rhyhorn's form, his spines slowly rising from the ground. The earth matched his low, deep rumble as he finally made a connection with the quiet spirit who owned the ground they all lived on.

He had only a foot left when the earth suddenly buckled, cracks spreading as a hump appeared below him. Rhyhorn's eyes shot open as, with a shaking roar, the earth erupted beneath him and shot him nearly three feet in the air.

Tears in his eyes, Ash doubled over laughing as Rhyhorn bellowed in surprise, tumbling through the air to land sharply on his stomach. The earth gave one last rumble of protest before falling silent once again, lying quietly but almost smugly beneath Rhyhorn's still form.

Ash moved forward, investigating the hole Rhyhorn had left. It was perhaps three feet deep, an inverted dome carved into the hardened stone. Deep fissures were etched into the surrounding areas from where the earth had exploded beneath Rhyhorn's heavy form, almost looking like an earthquake contained in a very small range. Which, in its most basic form, earth power was.

But what had happened was impossible to ignore. However small it was, no matter how it had gone poorly, Rhyhorn had finally touched the earth.

Ash turned back to see Rhyhorn tiredly pull himself to his feet, visibly sagging from the effort that it took to send his energy into the earth. The ground type looked like he wanted a nice, long nap. But when he and Rhyhorn made contact, both grinned, or did their impression of it.

They were far from done.

xXx

Wraith bobbed closer to him as the sounds of Pewter City finally reached their ears. He had refused Ash's help during training but had been uncharacteristically clingy outside of it, which Ash was hopefully taking as a sign of his arriving evolution. Gastly, much like abra, had little personality in their first stage while their brain was still developing, much like a child. When he evolved, he would really be able to figure out who he was as a pokemon.

Ash turned to him. "You want to stay out? It's not a super big city, but you'll need to bring in your aura as best you can."

Wraith hissed quietly at the idea, but one of his pupils flicked back to stare at Karma, who was making up the rear of the group to be as far away from the ghost as she could. She met his gaze unflinchingly, the gem on her forehead glowing slightly as she extended her powers to counter his own. He turned back to Ash and shook his head, gases retreating to press mere inches away from this center.

Ash smiled and Wraith's permanent grin seemed to brighten somewhat in return before he returned to the quiet frustration that seemed to be plaguing him. He was seriously struggling with dark pulse, only managing to successfully form dark energy one time out of every five, but whenever Ash had tried to lend his assistance he had been chased away. The ghost was going through the mood swings associated with evolution, though it was far different from the sheer aggression Gale had only shown during that time.

The stain in the back of his mind flashed with interest before fading again, and Wraith carefully diverted his gaze to the route ahead before Ash could catch him staring. Despite his moodiness, he had been rather good recently in order to earn a spot for the next gym battle, and he knew that it hurt Ash to reach out to him in his unevolved state. Ash smiled at the thoughtfulness. "Thanks, Wraith."

The gastly pretended not to hear him - what, him, a ghost, doing good? Never! - and Ash gave him the small victory and continued walking on.

Pewter City was nestled between two hills, loosely contained in a vague, circle-like shape. The main part of the town was brighter than the others, streets lined with lampposts and paved, and Ash could see the red-domed roof of the Pokemon Center from his aerial position. He could swear that the large, warehouse-esque building was the gym, but he didn't have a way to prove it from this distance. Waiting for the last of his pokemon to catch up, he started down the hill toward the city.

The second he was level with Pewter, a far different mood than excitement filled him. What he had seen of the center of the city was nice, if not high quality, but everything stretching away from the center grew more and more grey, arching like an ariados web. He could see grime splattered over stone houses and the few, flickering lamp posts were either broken or in bad shape. Graffiti was splashed across numerous brick walls, brightly coloured paint covered up innumerable times in names or strange symbols. The sterile glow from a lamppost cast a dying shadow over his face as he entered through the lower entrance of the town.

His first thought was that he should have come in through the main entrance. But he had seen a shorter path to the Pokemon Center this way and had decided to take it. The several abandoned buildings loomed over him despite being only several stories tall and he could feel the sharp wind snaking through the streets, the only sound in the dead street.

It was only early afternoon but he couldn't help but draw his jacket closer around his arms, Rhyhorn speeding up to be by his side. Flashes of light hit his face from closed windows.

"Everyone, you're being recalled," he said a bit tightly. Gale, who was flying overhead, made a sound of protest but everyone else was recalled quickly. Rhyhorn stayed by his side as he moved through the cold streets of Pewter.

Within only twenty minutes, however, the sun seemed to return and he felt warmth on his face. Buildings revived themselves into good repair and the broken and missing bricks of the path were suddenly flawless. He noticed the change by the time it was too late - for him, it was as if he had been afraid of the rather nice, gentle city that was now around him.

He could see the Pokemon Center ahead, surrounded by a neatly kept garden blooming with flowers. Rocks lined the side of the road, large boulders that served as sort of benches, smoothed over by years out in the elements. The pavers were grey and most of the buildings had neutral tones for their colouration. It seemed Pewter took itself as the city of rocks quite seriously.

But Ash could see past the nice interior. Pewter City was not a place to wander alone at night, at least not in the outer reaches.

The Nurse Joy inside was just as pleasant as any others he had met, though there was a sharpness in her eyes he hadn't seen before. Rhyhorn accepted being recalled without so much as a low rumble, and Ash handed over all of his friends but Karma, who hadn't been in very many battles and was fine. Besides, he wanted to go find her the rest of her silver.

Joy gave him directions to a gift shop that sold all sorts of rocks and metals, where he would no doubt find enough silver to satisfy him. Sliding his Trainer ID under the scanner to rent a room for the night, he thanked her and went off on his way.

Thankfully, it was within 'city limits'. By reading the various pamphlets Nurse Joy had given him and looking over the maps, he was able to realize that there were only certain parts of the city that were legally classified as 'Pewter City'.

Over the past hundred years, as Mount Moon grew less and less promising to travel to when compared to the much safer routes between other cities, Pewter City lost much of its tourist population and, as such, fell on harder times. Crime grew as people fought to survive and the League drew its attention to the more popular, larger cities. The previous gym leaders had all attempted to save the outer reaches, offering schools for education and jobs for those without, but it only served to make a dent.

At least until the latest gym leader, Brock, came along.

He was only a teenager but he had grown up in a hard world. His father, Flint, was the previous leader of the gym and had to spend nearly all of his time there trying to save it, only arriving back at home far too late and leaving far too early. Brock's mother, Lola, was officially reported as having left to explore other interests but it was heavily assumed something far more suspicious had happened. None of her powerful water pokemon had ever been seen or reported.

Brock had seen everyone trying to save Pewter City by feeding it more and more and had said no. Many tried to convince him but he stood his ground and cut Pewter City in half, giving funding to only the center. For those that looked in, it might seem cold-hearted, as if he was trying to starve out of the bad instead of healing it, but Brock spent a fair amount of his time fighting criminals and helping those without jobs attain them with the city limits. Every year, he was able to extend the limits slight more - a street here, a building there - and he prophesied that in nearly thirty years he would have nearly three-quarters of the original Pewter City back within safekeeping.

There were those that disagreed with his methods, but there were none that could consider the teen soft. He was, as cliche as it sounded, as tough as the rock types he trained.

Ash could see the difference between Pewter City and the outskirts as differently as two sides of a coin, and was extremely thankful that _Flint's Rock and Blocks_ was within the limits. It was a humble little shop, the small glass window covered in shelves stuffed high with different hued rocks.

The tiny bell chimed pleasantly as he entered, the aroma of copper and salt filling his nose in a far subtler way than Celadon. Inside, it was mainly full of waist-high units neatly organized with both neatly cut and rough-surfaced stones. A man jerked to attention from behind a bar, quickly stowing a magazine behind the register and standing up. "Hello?"

"Hey," Ash offered, flicking his gaze amongst the different rocks. More than a few were interesting and while the price wasn't too bad, he could only imagine his back if he added twenty pounds of pretty rocks to his bag. "I just caught a kadabra, but she doesn't have a spoon. Do you have any silver?"

The man silded around the bar, seemingly very pleased Ash actually had something to buy. "Of course! Does she have any standards? We have a few different types we use for focal points, all with their own pros and cons."

Ash blinked. He hadn't considered that. "Am I allowed to release her?"

"Sure." The man pointed to a relatively clear area. Ash pulled out the pokeball and released her in the area, the red flash reflected off of the flecks of mica in the surrounding rocks. He blinked the scarlet out of his eyes and focused on Karma, whose own eyes were wide as she took in her surroundings. Almost instantly, her gaze snapped to the back, where Ash could see gleaming silver.

The man chuckled. "She's definitely ready for a focal point. Do you know how much silver she has right now?"

"Little less than a palm full, or something." Ash frowned. He hadn't exactly measured it. "I think it's pure silver, though." Karma focused on his words, blank gaze flicking to the man when he began to speak.

"I guessed. We have three main forms of silver for focal points; pure silver, sterling silver, and coin silver." He turned his back for a second, digging through a drawer before producing three silver bars about two inches long. He gestured to the first. "This is pure silver, found by our ground types. It technically is slightly stronger than other silvers, but it's our most expensive option and is rather malleable. See?" The man twisted his grip and the bar bent slightly. Ash nodded and Karma twitched her ears in response.

He held up the second, setting the first down. "Sterling silver is around 93% silver, while the rest is copper. It gets a little less power because it's not pure, but a fair bit less expensive and can survive for a lot longer. Pure silver gets scratched or dented while sterling silver mostly avoids that."

"Last is coin silver. It's around 90-10 for silver and copper and, as you can see, lacks a lot of the luster of the more pure silvers. It's our cheapest option and last a long time, though it doesn't have quite the punch."

Karma made eye contact with Ash, ears perked fully forward. She clicked her claws together and stared at the man, who nodded and set the three bars of silver down. Her gaze slid slowly from each to each, eyes flashing blue as she tested each one. After a silent minute, her gem gleamed and the first bar rose a few inches into the air. Pure silver.

Ash mentally grimaced at his crying wallet but forked over his Trainer ID. Swiping it under the scanner, he couldn't help the sudden bout of darkness that closed over his mind. The cost of the silver was enormous, dipping heavily into the bucks he had stashed here and there to try and buy more TMs. While he still had around a thousand in emergency funds, he wouldn't be pulling those any time soon. The numbers steadily clicked down in his account. At this point, he wasn't sure he would have enough for food. But Karma's eyes when Ash offered her the silver, the purple-orange gleam of happy pride, made it worth it.

The ring of molten silver flowed off of her neck, the silver ball melting immediately as her psychic powers touched it. She smoothed it out, shaping it out and making the basic spoon shape Ash knew. Karma paused, eyes flashing, and added a slight curl to the end. It cooled the second she wanted it to.

It touched her claws and Ash could _feel_ the psionic energy build up, sliding across the room like a living thing and making the hairs on the back of his neck rise up. He couldn't help the grin that rose across his face as the psychic stain in his mind picked up. "You ready for the gym?"

Her grip tightened around the spoon - or _shine_ , as she called it. _Yes_.

xXx

Ash had been right. The rather dull warehouse - at least, from the top - was the gym, situated right in the middle of the town. When he looked at the map, he could almost describe it as shock waves spreading through the city, with the gym in the middle. The city limits matched the wavelength effect, expanding outward in a sort of circle hugging the edges.

The gym was rather striking from the front. It was covered by a thick wall of stone, some sort of dark granite that glittered as Ash moved his head. He paused by one of the many tourist signs, relics from the old, prosperous age of the Pewter, and read more about the history of the gym. The sign sucked him in with well-written language and pictures, even though the plastic in the corner was peeling.

It was covered, both inside and out, by something called Verde Butterfree Granite, which was known for its green-grey hues and for being heavily infused with mica as to shine every time the sun hit it. Only found in Hoenn, Pewter had had to spend nearly a year paying for all the stone and then all the shipping to get it covering their gym. But in the end, it was striking. The building glittered like a diamond in the light and Ash could only imagine what it had been like Pewter was at its prime. Now the granite was chipped and the mica had lost a fair amount of its luster, but he could still see the spirit of the thing beneath the cover.

He took another moment to stare at the imposing gym before heading inside. The door, despite being covered in a slab of granite, was surprisingly light, and he nearly fell from the effort he had been used to try and open it. A blast of cool air hit him before he had even stepped inside, the cool undertones that smelled almost like a cave surrounding him.

Inside, it was dark, though hidden lights along the tops of the walls still let him see. It had a much more rustic feeling than the outside, ancient wood carvings along the walls and thick wooden pillars supporting more granite to cover the walls. The stuff on the inside wasn't kept in quite as good condition as the outside, probably because the gym leader spent more time in displaying a proud appearance to the city he was wrestling back from the edge.

Ash could recognize some of the carvings. They were simplistic, and Ash could see the imperfections that showed they were hand carved. It took him a moment to pick apart the flat images, but he saw they were mainly of rock pokemon: a callback to the Nibi clan, who formed the town and gym within it. Though Brock and his family weren't part of the clan, they still obeyed much of the same traditions, and there had rarely been a member of the family that didn't at least partially specialize in rock types.

He walked past the front entrance room, following a wide path of granite to the battlefield. It was surrounded by seats but no one occupied them, the stadium-shaped field sloping downward to meet a wide, rectangular area. For the most part, it was flat, hard-packed earth, but randomly dotted around were piles of rocks, tightly packed a soft grey. They seemed to mimic mountains, grouped together in a very rough imitation of the range Mount Silver was located on.

On the other side, sitting cross-legged on a wide platform rather casually, sat a teen. He was taller than Ash, with deep brown skin, black spiked hair, and almost ranger-esque clothes, finished off with multitudes of pockets and buckles. Who he presumed was Brock raised his head as Ash approached, revealing narrow brown eyes. "Who goes there?" His voice was gruff but it didn't have the gravely tones his father Flint was well known for, more warm.

"A challenger for the Boulder Badge," Ash replied, stepping carefully toward his own platform. As far as battlefields went, it was one he would have to plan his strategies around, unlike Surge's or Sabrina's. No doubt Brock's pokemon knew their way around the deceptive small stone mountains much better than his own.

"Are you Ash Ketchum?" When the trainer nodded, Brock suddenly perked up, almost like Scorch when food was brought out. "Finally! Daisy told me about you almost two weeks ago. What took you so long?"

He blinked. "Well, I had to get through Mount Moon, and I stopped along Route 3 for a little more training."

"Ah, well." Brock waved it off, a grin on his face. "My real team has been training up for you, and they're all as ready as can be! Forrest?"

Another boy appeared from a side room, shaking off what seemed to be an afternoon nap and trying to hide his yawn behind the palm of his hand. "'M here, Brock. You got a challenger?" He asked, making his way toward the referee panel.

Brock didn't do anything to hide the proud grin on his face as what had to be his brother began reading off the basic rules. Both of them had been briefed on Ash, no questions of badge numbers given.

Ash was a little concerned about that. He hadn't exactly faced anyone who had prepared for him, even though he and Gary had been planning their fight since they were in diapers. It was also a four on four, which he had prepared for, but it was still a little nerve-wracking. He shook it off and readied his pokeballs.

Brock released his first pokemon, which immediately flew upward before the red gleam had even begun to fade. Ash frowned at that, trying to think of rock pokemon that could fly, when the scarlet faded and revealed a proud crobat, who stretched its wings in a truly impressive aerial show.

Surge's words returned to him - not every gym leader would use pokemon within their type in the higher levels. Ash would just have to adapt.

He analyzed the crobat. It was a good size, nearly five and a half feet, but Ash couldn't help but compare it to Gladion's crobat, the behemoth that had hovered while barely flapping its wings. But despite that, it had well-groomed purple fur and its red eyes were remarkably bright for the time of day. This would be a real battle.

Gale would be able to make it an aerial battle, but he hadn't fought enough trained fliers to make it a good one. Besides, it was Scorch's turn for a gym battle. She hadn't been able to defeat the dewgong and wanted to prove herself after that.

She appeared with a howl, tails curling over her head. Brock's eyes lit up. "I've always admired the vulpix line," he called across. "Five tails is pretty good. But how well have you trained her when compared to my crobat?"

"Well enough." Ash grinned. The teen's cheerfulness was infectious, and he couldn't contain the adrenaline that began licking through his veins. "I'll let you see that!"

Scorch barked her agreement, activating flash fire with a roar of flames. The excitement of the battle ignited the fire more than normal, tongues escaping to lick around the ground and pump heat into the air. Crobat let out a shrieking call in response, the sound lilting, and moved lower. Ash knew the zubat line had bad eyes that never went away, which means light show probably wouldn't do much, but their well-adapted ears would make roar a viable option. Ash looked down at Scorch, who stared back at him. She yipped before turning back to the battle, tails curling above her.

Forrest swiped his hand down. "Vulpix vs crobat! Begin!"

Crobat waited in the air, bottom wings staying still while its top two circled slowly to keep its position. Brock raised a hand, narrow eyes fixed on his pokemon. Ash frowned, waiting. Scorch padded around on the ground, eyes flashing blue to make sure she could keep Crobat within her sights.

It was a battle of speed. Scorch narrowed her eyes. She wasn't about to lose one of those.

Brock dropped his hand, Crobat dove, and the battle began.

It immediately leveled out a couple of feet above Scorch's head, skimming above the mountain ranges. Scorch bounded away whenever it got too close, but neither attacked each other. Ash frowned, watching the two carefully.

Crobat had four wings, but Ash noticed it only used its upper two for actual moving while the lower two circled quickly, displacing the air currents in order to change its direction. He guessed they worked almost like rudders on boats.

Brock still hadn't made a move yet, seeming to be the type of trainer who waited to check out the other pokemon before starting to attack. Crobat was also taking its sweet time analyzing the vulpix on the field. Ash frowned, scanning the field once more, before giving the first command of the match.

"Scorch, extrasensory and roar, then burn its lower wings with ember," Ash said softly, trusting her powerful, psychic-enhanced hearing. She yipped in confirmation and her eyes relit again, a much brighter blue than before as she harnessed the more deadly power of the psychic move. Crobat, on one of its low sweeps, began to hum with the same color. It jerked in midair, lower wings freezing up as its eyes suddenly took in far too much.

Ash couldn't see her, but he knew Scorch was baring her fangs in a grin as she slammed her front paws into the ground and curled her tails over the ground. The sudden movement drew Crobat's overly sensitive gaze and she threw her head back, releasing an otherworldly screech.

Both he and Brock winced, but Crobat was much worse. It tried to drown the noise with its own screech, shrieking its pain to the ceiling, but it only managed to distract itself more and start to fall toward the ground. Scorch blitzed forward with quick attack, tails flicking up to release a spray of embers.

Only a few connected. Crobat shook off the attack much better than Ash would have thought and took to the air, trailing smoke from the actually quite nasty burn on its left upper wing. He frowned. While it was clear Crobat could be distracted, Brock had trained it well on fighting past such things. He'd have to get more creative.

"Ember and heat wave. Try to box it in - you won't be able to hit it while it's flying." She barked back, eyes flashing again as she began to trot around the battlefield, ducking around the faux mountain ranges as best as she could while still keeping an eye on Crobat.

Brock leaned back against his railing, a smile on his face. "You've got a good pokemon," he called across. "But Crobat has a few tricks up his sleeve. Haze!"

Crobat immediately flew upward from its low circles, wings flashing in the light of the gym. It opened its fanged mouth and a stream of blue-white smoke came out, glistening with particles of frozen water. Crobat shivered even as it breathed out the chilled mist, but its training far overreached the cold from the ice. It beat its upper wings rapidly, forcing the haze until it covered a good half of the field, before it dove into the mist.

It was just like in the Cerulean Gym, but this time he didn't have the advantage. Every now and then, he could hear the chirp of echolocation, and knew that Crobat was right at home being blind in the mist. "Heat wave! Try to get rid of the haze!" He called, leaning forward with gritted teeth.

He didn't hear a bark back, and right as he was about to make sure she had heard him, he heard a pain filled yip. The haze stirred, twisting as something within moved rapidly, but neither pokemon emerged.

Brock offered him a shrug of his shoulders. "Crobat likes to simulate caves as best he can while hunting. Your vulpix is working blind in there."

The gym leader was surprisingly talkative, but that didn't change the fact he had just given Ash a useful bit of information. In caves, there wasn't smoke. "Scorch! Extrasensory, and find it through the burn on its wing!"

It was a waiting game, but at least Ash had a plan. Crobat were notoriously clean groomers to hide their scent while hunting at night with more sensitive prey, and would often give off no more than a faint whiff of poison. But with the burn right on its wing, Scorch would have a much easier time finding it.

His thoughts struck true. A squeak of pain flitted through the battlefield and a plume of fire escaped the haze. Scorch yipped and Ash could see her find her way to the edge of the haze and make it out. Crobat flew upward, another vicious burn on one of its lower wings. Even though it wasn't too injured, its flight pattern jerked as one wing tried to do the work of two. It settled for hovering above the battlefield, the haze slowly disappearing beneath it.

Scorch searched, but couldn't see it above the cloud of mist. "Extrasensory," Ash called. She only had to land a couple more hits to ground it, then she could go to town. He could see an impressive bite over her back but it didn't seem to be bleeding too much and she barely seemed to notice it.

"I can see I'm going to need a different approach to your vulpix," Brock called. He raised his hand, instantly drawing Crobat's attention back to him despite its wobbly flight. "Screech and supersonic."

Ash whitened. "Scorch, stop!"

Crobat threw its upper wings forward, diving fast and flying faster. It released a piercing, high-pitched shriek that rattled its way into Ash's bones, the sound echoing off the walls and only coming back stronger. He cried out, jamming his hands over his ears and closing his eyes. The pain was both high and low, fierce and rough, and so unlike any other noise Ash had ever heard.

When he managed to pry his eyes open, he could see actual sound waves emerge from Crobat's mouth, shooting toward the twitching Scorch. She was barely able to move, overpowered because of her acute hearing and extrasensory. There was no way for her to dodge when the rays slammed into her.

She shrieked, writhing and falling on her side. Brock didn't look exactly pleased with the pain she was experiencing but gave his next command nevertheless. "Cross poison."

"Defend with iron tail!" Ash shouted, and he knew she could hear him by the weak twitch of her ears. Supersonic didn't truly _confuse_ , but it did confuse the opponent. Only confuse ray could summon the otherworldly energies that made confusion so incredibly dangerous. Supersonic and others simply made the pokemon unbalanced, losing their most basic motor controls.

Her longest tail, the middle, flashed silver briefly, but she just didn't have a good enough mastery of it to defend herself. He winced as Crobat dove, still jerky from its burnt lower wing, and slammed its upper wings into her. The edges released a wave of poison that was immediately absorbed into her skin. It flew off, avoiding the flaming armor of flash fire as best it could.

Scorch twisted, tails flailing as she fought to right herself. She shivered, the poison making its due course through her body, but she didn't have time to worry about that. Her trainer was counting on her winning this battle for him, for the team. Growling as lowly as she could muster, she rose back to her paws and settled into her battle stance.

Ash cheered. "Will-o-wisp, hit its other lower wing!" She flattened her ear back and extended her tails, still twitching randomly from the poison. The time limit wasn't something Ash was used to but he trusted Scorch.

Five bluish flames emerged, immediately taking to the skies. Crobat swerved, wings flapping furiously as it dove between the mountain ranges. It was too tall to be completely hidden by the piles of rock, but it successfully managed to avoid the hovering fireballs.

At least until it emerged on the other side of the field, coming face to face with Scorch and another set of will-o-wisps. Three slammed into its lower wings while the others went wide, but she had done what she needed. Crobat tried to take off, to flee, but it could only manage to go straight up. Scorch circled beneath it, tails flexed, but Ash knew the poison was multiplying, and quickly.

Brock guessed it as well. "Venoshock. Swift if you need to distract it."

Crobat squeaked its approval and hacked up a glob of shining green poison, drops dripping from its wide fangs as it spat the mixture at Scorch. She barked and dragged herself out of the way, but Crobat was already falling. It relied on its second set of wings as not only direction but also height, and without them, it was steadily losing altitude.

Scorch yipped, backed up, and released a barrage of embers. They hit their mark despite Crobat shooting off rays of light of swift to try and combat them. It screeched in pain and began to truly fall, wings writhing as it tried to regain its balance in mid-air.

Brock recalled it before it could hit, and Ash let out a breath of broken air he hadn't been aware was stuck in his throat. While it hadn't been the most intense battle he'd ever had, he'd never had one of his pokemon be so outclassed so quickly. Crobat was a fully evolved pokemon and that accounted for a lot of it, but Ash was used to having an ace in the hole to combat that. Scorch only had one close range move and she could only barely use it.

He only took another second to recall her as well. She shot him a truly grateful look, still hunched over with the shivers of poison wracking her form. He had to train them to combat that, as well as other status conditions. In fact, he really just needed to train his pokemon on more than just moves.

Brock cleared his throat and Ash jerked, realizing Forrest had already announced the next match and the gym leader had another pokeball in his hands. With a grin, he released the next pokemon.

Ash couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief as an actual rock type appeared on the field. He hadn't prepared for a poison wielding flier and it had nearly cost him Scorch before the match was even beginning.

The onix usually wasn't one that inspired relief. It was enormous, nearly thirty feet long and made of interlocking boulders. The crest on its head gleamed with old battle scars, including one particularly nasty one that seemed like it had been bitten off, though Ash knew it could regenerate its rocks over time. It let loose a low, rumbling roar that sounded like an avalanche, thumping its tail against the ground. When it was fully stretched out, Ash guessed it would take up all but ten feet of the length of the battlefield.

But he knew which of his friends he could use to combat that. Matching Brock's grin with one of his own, he released his own contender.

Karma stared fearlessly at the behemoth in front of her, ears perked up and twitching. Ash could almost see the psychic energy floating off of her form, her eyes gleaming bright despite her not using any move. She had slept for nearly twenty-two hours yesterday, only waking up to eat, and had completely recharged her energy.

Brock nodded, impressed. Ash could understand. With the full force of her shine, Karma was a threat to be recognized and impressed with.

Onix rumbled its own challenge even as Forrest began the match, black eyes narrowed and rocks grinding against each other as it slithered to more safely tuck itself behind the mountain ranges.

"Rock tomb, rock polish once it's trapped," Brock said quickly. Onix growled its approval and thumped its tail against the ground, dispersing a wave of energy into the ground. Karma stared blankly out, disappearing in a crack of thunder just as soon as the earth trembled beneath her. It exploded upward, creating wide pillars of stone that should have pinned Karma in a tiny rock prison if she hadn't gotten out.

Rock tomb and the like weren't true ground moves, though they did share characteristics. The move only required a forceful wave of energy to push rocks upward instead of moving the earth properly, similar to stone edge except with intent to trap instead of just attacking.

A gentle touch of red-purple brushed against his mind. He directed a grin at Karma and gave a command. "Box it, psybeam, confusion." With a psychic type, she could pick up the intentions in his mind and only needed the most basic commands.

She inclined her head regally before turning back to the battle. Onix glowed with a gleaming white light, and Ash could see bits and pieces of rock falling off of its body to let it move faster. Karma capitalized on its distraction with the move and raised her shine, the silver beginning to glow.

Onix finished rock polish, leering down at her with a rocky grin. Brock frowned but there didn't seem to be any signs of what Karma was using her psychic energy on, which Ash had worked very hard on. They stared at each other for a moment before Onix made a movement to slam its tail into the ground again.

A barrier flickered to life around its thin boulders.

It roared in confusion, trying to thrash around, but Karma had molded a significant portion of her energy into wrapping around Onix. A thick layer of barriers was wrapped around its body, keeping it frozen in its position even as it writhed and bellowed its frustration to the heavens. If she was hit a single time by the monster that was the rock and ground type, she would be severely injured. So the first plan was to trap it.

The second part came to life. Balls of light began to appear around her, similar to her first encounter with Ash. But now, there were nearly two dozen, each much larger than they had been before. She closed her eyes and Ash could feel the green-purple of smug pride a moment before they launched.

Barriers collapsed a moment before the psybeams slammed into the rock type, getting rid of its protection. Onix bellowed in pain, managing to thrash enough to break the leftover walls of psychic energy as each of the beams slammed into its rocky armor. Brock winced but shouted his own command. "Rock slide!"

Onix roared and lunged forward. It slammed its tail along with a significant portion of its body into the ground, triggering a concussive _boom_ and cloud of dust. Nearly five of the nearby mountains exploded, the rocks bursting into the air and raining toward Karma like a thunderstorm. She teleported with a crack but that hardly did anything, the rocks still falling too heavily to teleport out without getting too close to Onix. Two struck her across her shoulderplates, throwing her to the ground.

Ears fully pinned back, Karma rose back into the air, creating her bubble of psionic energy to float on. Onix rumbled down at her, slithering around the mountain ranges to get closer to its opponent.

Karma had enough. She didn't like getting even touched on the best of days and being slammed into by a wall of stone was far below that list. Raising her shine, she narrowed her flashing eyes and hovered higher above the earth.

Barriers flickered to life above Onix, but they were horizontal instead of the regular flat. Ash grinned and settled back - unlike when most of his friends got angry, Karma became more focused instead of uncoordinated. While she had a tendency to use more power than needed, that was fine for facing an onix.

Brock opened his mouth but paled as the barriers began moving downward. Onix thrashed, making to move, but Karma launched a weakened psybeam to distract it. By the time it had shoved off the pain, the barriers had touched its crest and were shoving downward.

Onix bellowed, slamming its tail into the ground. Ash winced from the sound but Karma pressed resolutely on, shine beginning to melt from the sheer force she was powering through it. The barriers moved downward, becoming fully visible with the strength Onix was pressing against them.

One cracked directly above Onix's crest, but Karma just formed another one and kept pushing. Brock shouted but Ash couldn't hear what he said. He did, however, see the results quickly.

The rock type's eyes flashed a brilliant red, shining with an inner light like the brightest of all flashlights. Its muscles tensed and it stopped struggling, letting itself be pressed downward. Ash frowned for all but a moment before the ferocious bellow echoed through the gym.

Rage. Not nearly as powerful as outrage or close combat, but absolutely deadly in the hands of the behemoth onix. It immediately began thrashing, even though it was almost lying flat against the ground with Karma's fake gravity.

Two barriers shattered instantly and more quickly followed. Karma's ears flicked up before being pinned back once again, shine redoubling its glow. "Psybeam!" Ash shouted furiously.

Instead of her widespread, weak balls of light, this time the glow was focused directed in the center of the melting shine. It fluctuated with a rainbow hue, gleaming brightly, before firing. The psybeam slammed directly between Onix's eyes, exploding powerfully enough to throw chips and splinters of its rocky armor away. Onix's eyes flashed once, the red gleam of rage flowing away and being replaced by pure shock at the pain it was feeling.

Then, with a throaty groan, it collapsed on its side. The thud from its fall sent another cloud of dust into the air.

Brock sighed and recalled it. "Your kadabra is powerful, Ash. Onix isn't quite up to snuff with my team, but my other two have earned their spots with pride." He flashed a grin. "You keeping in your kadabra?"

Ash angled his stare toward her. She met his gaze unflinchingly, ears twitched. Her shoulderplates had a crack from the rock and the onix had sucked a fairly amount of her energy, but she could fight on. _Fight_ , she whispered in his mind.

"She's staying in," he agreed. "What's your next one?"

Brock grinned. "Come on out!" He shouted, clicking the release of his pokeball.

Ash recognized the pokemon instantly. Nearly five feet tall and four wide, it stood powerful on the rubble of the rock slide and bellowed its arrival. Most of its body was a spherical stone made up of connecting pieces, a head smirking out from the front and powerful arms on the sides. A golem, one with smooth rocks from battle use. This would be a difficult foe to face.

Forrest jerked his hand down.

Brock forcibly took the first move. "Metal slam!"

Golem rumbled, the sound like grating rocks, and lowered its body. Its large, wide claws dug into the rock and then it was off like a shot, barreling towards the motionless Karma.

She didn't teleport. While the abra line was evolved to bend space and time to effortlessly move, it required high levels of energy when they weren't in their first or last form, because of the large difference in size and power levels. Instead, she froze psychic energy in a reflect a dozen feet in front of her.

Golem slammed into it and it immediately shattered. Its speed was only diminished slightly as it continued on, gleaming with silver energy. Karma's eyes widened, ears flat, before she was forced to teleport out. Golem continued on and crushed nearly four mountain ranges beneath its charge. It reappeared, shaking away fragments of rocks off of its head and focusing back on Karma. It didn't seem even scratched after ramming through hundreds of pounds of rock.

Ash frowned. Karma would have to do some heavy working to injure the rock type for his next pokemon. "Psybeam," he called.

Karma held her shine out, glowing blue. It wasn't a psybeam but a confusion, and he knew she must be exhausted. Trapping Onix twice had taken a lot out of her and Golem was hardly making it easier for her.

Golem grunted annoyedly as it was lifted into the air, flexing its arms as it tested the boundaries. Karma flattened her ears and closed her eyes, focusing the last dredges of her energy into keeping the pokemon contained with the prison. Hissing audibly, pupils glowing from behind her eyelids, she twitched her claws and slammed Golem against the ground.

It actually made a hollow sound of pain, one leg buried into the ground from the strength she had managed to throw it in. With a grimace, it reached down and yanked its leg out of the hole. "Rock polish," Brock called. "Rollout."

Golem began to glow, the extra growth on its rocks crumbling off, before it retracted its head and limbs. A growl emerging from seemingly nowhere as the rock type began to roll, shaking the ground beneath it.

Karma didn't move. Her psionic bubble was barely keeping itself together and she was in no shape to actually run. Instead, she started to glow with an inner light, the same glittering blue-white that defined most of her psychic powers. Her eyes glowed and so did the inner section of her ears, light appearing from her mouth and nose as if she was only full of light inside. Golem grew closer and closer but Karma actually screamed, the high screech echoing both through the gym and Ash's head, and released a brilliant beam of light.

Ash recognized. It was the blue of psychic.

Golem was sent flying, crashing through a faux mountain and digging a divot into the earthen floor. It groaned with frustration, hauling itself to its feet, but it was obvious the move had done its damage. There was a burn from the energy right where its chest was, parts of its rocky armor ripped away.

She immediately passed out after, collapsing against the ground. There wasn't a flicker of conscious in her. Ash recalled her, congratulating her as best he could but the pokeball was entirely unresponsive.

Brock blinked before a wide grin split his face. "Okay, your kadabra knows its stuff! Who's your next?"

Ash palmed along his pokeballs. Rhyhorn might be able to overpower Golem with his beginnings of earth power but with its speed boosts, he didn't want Rhyhorn to be unable to react while Golem slammed into him over and over again. Grinning, he tossed his other pokemon out onto the field.

Wraith hissed as he was released, gases fluctuating as his fanged grin was filled with malice. He took to the air, keeping one pupil trained on the stomping Golem while attaching his other to Ash's gaze. Ash nodded, grinning, and the ghost returned it.

His mood swings always seemed to disappear in battle.

Brock nodded approvingly at the ghost. They were an impressive sight on any battlefield, and though Wraith wouldn't likely be able to handle more than one or hits from the stocky rock type, he would be difficult to hit and Golem was already heavily injured.

Forrest announced the match. Wraith twitched at the voice but readied for battle, gases thickening and extending off of his body. Ash had noticed they were darker than normal, as well as more potent - he had managed to poison a raticate on Route 3 just by touching it.

"Daze!" He barked.

Wraith cackled with glee and dove, gases extending like a million tendrils of death. Golem snorted, unafraid, and waited calmly for its trainer command. Brock told it to use rock blast and it did so, kneeling quickly to grab a handful of rocks. With an almost uncanny aim, it threw its arm back and began tossing.

The gastly dove and ducked around them, hissing in an almost mocking tone. Golem didn't take the bait, continuing to throw the rocks as Wraith approached. It scored a clean hit on one of the outer layers of his gases, jerking him back. His white eyes glimmered with rage and he dove more intensely, enveloping Golem's face in poison. The rock type growled, swatting at the gases, but staying steady. As Wraith got too close, getting cocky, Golem cocked its arm back and slammed a flaming fist into the ghost's face.

Wraith wailed, flying backward. Several of his gases caught flame but he exercised his will and squashed the fire, glaring darkly at the rock type. Golem met the gaze but didn't seem to realize it was anything other than a glaring match. It was proved wrong when Wraith's eyes gleamed pink.

Golem realized what it was too late. It grunted, trying to step back, but the hypnosis hit it right before it managed. Stumbling back, it raised one more flaming fist before collapsing backward.

Brock shouted for it to wake up but Wraith rose, gases gleaming. He readied lick but Brock recalled it before then, sighing.

"I haven't fought a lot of ghosts types, and neither has Golem." Brock sighed, but he was still smiling. "I hope you're ready for this last one. Something tells me you won't expect it."

Ash prepared for anything, but he never though an honest-to-Arceus _fossil_ pokemon would appear.

The kabutops was nearly five feet tall, mainly covered in a mottled brown armor. It hissed, sliding its scythes together to produce a screeching sound that nearly covered its challenging growl. The beady black eyes deeply set in its armored face stared unwaveringly at Wraith, who hissed back.

"How the hell did you get a fossil pokemon?" Ash gaped, unable to rip his gaze away from the water type.

Brock grinned. "The Museum had some extra DNA samples and the Revival Lab owed me a favor. He's adjusted well enough to modern life but he's still a bit aggressive."

Forrest abruptly had to cough, hiding his face in his hand. Brock shot him a glare but it was softened by humour. The referee recovered and announced the match, swiping his hand down and stepping farther away from the field. Ash was feeling less than confident, but he wouldn't back down now.

Brock rather dramatically swept his hand, Kabutops twitching its scythes in response before it even knew what the command was. "Foresight."

Ash paled.

Kabutops growled, standing to its full height and extending its scythes. Swiping them downward, it released a wave of energy. Wraith tried to avoid it, but the energy readjusted its course to slam into his center.

The shadows that always lived by his form disappeared, his gases brightening until he looked almost like a caricature, brilliant colors of purple and blues and his eyes shining an unseeable white. Wraith howled in confusion, but the sound only echoed into the gym, not in Ash's head.

"Slash," Brock commanded. Kabutops chittered, making it sound much more threatening than Ash ever thought it could be, and lunged.

Ash desperately commanded every move Wraith knew, but the ghost was far too confused about being pulled entirely into the living world. He writhed in midair, gases flying. Kabutops barely noticed it, scythe gleaming as it carved straight through Wraith's center.

Half of him exploded. Another slash dissolved the rest.

Ash immediately recalled him. He had seen neither a fossil pokemon nor foresight coming, but he knew he should have. While the moves that could pull ghost pokemon forward were far from common, they were something he should have prepared for.

He made a movement to congratulate the ghost when a shiver crept up his arm. Ash glared at the pokeball. Though he knew that Wraith's sheer ghostly energies leaked through the metal casing and always sent a chill up his spine, now they seemed more pronounced. The pocket of ice in the farthest corner of his mind he had started to understand was Wraith twitched, growing colder.

Rhyhorn roared his arrival, snorting out puffs of dusty breath. Brock raised his eyebrows and grinned. "A rock type of your own?"

"My starter," Ash offered, analyzing Kabutops as best he could. It was fast, but he hadn't seen much emotion in its movement. Just cold. It sliced Wraith in half and then quickly stalked back to Brock's side, waiting for the next fight. Even now, it stared quietly at him, scythes glittering with leftover poison.

Neither trainer made a move, watching each other just as carefully as their pokemon did. Rhyhorn pawed at the ground, silver claws ripping up chunks of dirt. Though it looked like a challenge, Ash knew he was preparing for smack down if needed. Forrest reemerged, letting the fight commence.

"Spite, earth power," Ash said softly. Rhyhorn needed to slow Kabutops down if he was going to hit it at all. "Don't get too close. Those scythes can do a lot of damage."

The ground type rumbled and began to gather shadows, pooling the energy in his throat. Kabutops stared at it unflinchingly, head tilted to the side and making the same low, chittering noises that sent shivers up Ash's spine. That was the sound his ancestors would hear right before they died.

"Iron defense," Brock called, eyebrows lowered. While he had seemed very laid back during the beginning of the fight, now they were both down to one relatively fresh pokemon and the stakes were higher. "Then ancient power, disguise style."

Kabutops didn't hunker down like most pokemon did, a silver glow spreading over its armor. Ash could see it had pride, a fair amount of it, which probably came from being one of the top predators of the past.

Rhyhorn sniped off the spite, nailing Kabutops along its chest. Most of the energy bounced off the defensive move, but though Ash knew it connected Kabutops didn't so much as flinch from the loss of energy. It hissed at him, rattling its back spines almost like an ekans. Ash couldn't help his own wince at the sound.

Kabutops slammed its two scythes into the ground just as Rhyhorn started to gather energy for earth power. The entire battlefield rumbled, several sections of dirt glowing a dark, rotten silver as they trembled violently in place. Ash frowned a moment before entire chunks of solidified stone began rising into the air. Rhyhorn bellowed in confusion as he was boxed in by cold tomb walls, the dirt rising up to surround him. Ash blinked as nearly two dozen walls emerged from the ground, all around six feet tall and completely blocking off any sight he had of the battlefield.

He shot an incredulous look to Brock, who shrugged it off with a grin. "It's a strategy of mine," he said, grinning. "How well have you trained your pokemon to react when you're blind to their actions?"

Ash cupped his hands over his mouth. "Rhyhorn, if you can hear me," he shouted, "find it. Use the vibrations it makes and then nail it with whatever you can. Earth power, horn attack, anything - I believe in you!"

He dimly heard a low rumble in response. One of the walls shuddered, the dirt trying vainly to hold itself together with the silver energy, but the bulk Rhyhorn was shoving against it wore out and it collapsed with a groan. Ash could hear the thumping footsteps of his starter as he made his way through the maze of dirt walls.

Kabutops never made a sound. He could imagine it stalking through the walls, scythes raised and glittering in the dim light. It was at home here, having come from swamps long ago where it would hunt in manners eerily similar to this. Rhyhorn wouldn't have much time to react to an attack if he didn't sense it first.

A pause, lumbering footsteps, a pause. Ash gritted his teeth and waited.

There was a startled roar and then the _crack_ of an attack. Rhyhorn bellowed, but it was more victorious than in pain. Several of the walls trembled as their owner lost concentration, though they stayed up. Rhyhorn barreled through one of the walls Ash could see, for there was only one pokemon on that field that could make a wall implode like that, and he could hear the dark screech of scythe on scythe.

Brock raised an eyebrow. "Water pulse," he called. "Mud shot if you need to."

Only a few seconds had gone by when Rhyhorn roared in pain, no doubt hit by the incredibly effective move. In his anger, he became aggressive.

Two more walls imploded, leaving only the barest remains of the once-impenetrable defense. Kabutops made a startled hiss and then Ash could see its wide, domed head appear above one of the walls, appearing having climbed up it using its scythes. It perched on top, spines raised and back hunched as it stalked Rhyhorn from above the field.

Rhyhorn rumbled and the earth trembled with him. With a shriek, it burst upward, cracks appearing as the uncontrolled earth power tore through the remaining walls and sent Kabutops careening toward the ground.

It landed hard enough to crack one of its plates. Hissing with pain, it rose back to its clawed feet and stared down Rhyhorn.

The ground type looked worse for wear. Several long cuts ran along his spines, slivers removed and chunks outlined in scratches from charging down the walls, and no doubt using such a widespread earth power had tired him. Water dripped from his plates. But his eyes gleamed in satisfaction at his enemy that was finally before him and couldn't run away.

"Metal sound!" Brock shouted.

Kabutops raised its scythes, each edge gleaming silver, and jammed them together. It produced a hair-raising shriek that pounded along Ash's ears, forcing him to cover them or lose them.

Rhyhorn had never been known for his good hearing. Roaring a challenge to drown out the mildly irritating sound, he charged forward. Kabutops tried to deflect him with glowing scythes but few things could stop a charging rhyhorn and it was not one of them.

It went flying backward, scythes flashing as it landed in a crumpled heap near Brock's side of the field. The gym leader peered down but when it was clear Kabutops wasn't getting up, he recalled it with a sigh.

"You did it, Rhyhorn!" Ash shouted, earning a pleased rumble before the ground type sagged and moved sluggishly back toward him. He took pity and recalled the exhausted pokemon.

"Thanks." Ash looked up to see Brock offering his hand. He shook it, feeling the teen's heavily calloused palm. "That was a great battle. I haven't had one nearly that fun in a long while. Maybe when you train your team up a little more you could come rechallenge me - that rhyhorn is going to be powerful when he reaches his prime!"

Ash returned the easy grin on the gym leader's face. He accepted the badge and ran his fingers over it - it was a light brown, some sort of smoky quartz carved in the shape of a gem. He slipped it into his safest pocket. "Thanks."

He made a movement to leave but couldn't help how his mind went to his Trainer ID and far too low numbers to travel again. "Actually, do you think you could help me out?"

Brock made the universal gesture for 'go on', leaning casually on the railing.

"I spent a lot of money buying my kadabra a focal point, and I don't really have enough to go traveling. So I was planning on staying here a couple of days, challenging some trainers. When I'm not fighting, do you think I could come and do some work around the city in order to save up?"

Ash couldn't help the shudder that went down his back at the sight of the teen's grin. "I'd love that. Don't worry, I've got plenty of work for you."

Well, he might pick up some tips from Brock. He smiled hesitantly back, which only made the gym leader grin harder.

xXx

Ash had avoided releasing his pokemon for the rest of the day. Nurse Joy had stared disapproving at him when he handed Karma's pokeball over and said it would take her a fair amount of time to help her regain her energy. He didn't want to congratulate his pokemon without all of them being there.

He had spent the day lounging around his room in the Pokemon Center, researching some of the moves Brock had used. Foresight was added to his tab of those he had to find a defense against, and some of Brock's strategies he would definitely try to recreate. The teen had brought up a point - he had mainly trained his pokemon on situations he could control, seeing everything with an even field. But once Rhyhorn truly accessed his ground typing, the field would become his to manipulate and he needed to teach his pokemon how to react to that.

Nurse Joy smiled at him, though she still frowned a bit as she told him how Karma wouldn't regain her full energy for several days. He grinned, thanked her, and bolted.

Ash skidded down Route 3, searching for the closest clearing he could find. It took him less than fifteen minutes to find one that was big enough, only a little distance away from the route, and he tore through the trees. Setting down his bag and catching his breath, he released his team

He barely waited for his team's after-release daze to wear off before shouting, "We won!"

All five blinked at him before the words sunk in, and then there were rumbles, shrieks, and barks of excitement. Gale sulked for a bit at being left behind before everyone's joy at winning got to him and then he celebrated just as much as them all. Wraith had anger brimming in his white eyes, no doubt from his cheap take-out, but Ash shrugged it off to his raging mood swings and talked to everyone.

"The next gym is going to be a poison type, so we're going to need to train up some more on how to avoid being poisoned. Scorch, you can tell everyone how bad it was, right? I've also given some thought to maybe have a few of you try some double battles together, just to get a taste for it. What do you think?"

Rhyhorn rumbled his agreement before nosing at Ash's bag, pushing it towards his friend. He wanted to go, to keep working on earth power, especially against pokemon that would be weak to it.

Ash sighed and knelt next to his starter, tapping behind behind his horn. He should have told them earlier.

"We can't leave Pewter yet," Ash said softly. All of them looked at him, heads tilted. "I spent too much money, and don't have enough for food, guys. So we're going to stay here for a bit, challenging people and working with Brock when we can. He already agreed."

Karma seemed to realize what he had spent the money on, and her ears flicked down. Her grip tightened around her shine and she averted her gaze. He turned to her. "Hey, Karma, it's fine. You earned that; you need it." Something cold touched his spine like a fleeting kiss, sending shivers over his back before it left. But still, it lingered. "On that, I've actually got an idea for a new move you should learn. It's called-"

The temperature dropped. Karma flinched, eyes wide and ears pinned. Wraith let out a high, unworldly howl and lunged for her.

Ash stumbled back and shouted for Rhyhorn. The ground type moved to attention, trying to get between the two Trio pokemon. Wraith bared his fanged grin, a hiss echoing like a gong through Ash's skull, and simply floated higher to avoid it, gases thickening and trickling from his body.

Karma raised her shine and made to teleport, shoulders heavy and eyes half-lidded from the ghostly aura, but Wraith roared his disapproval and gases flooded the clearing, streaming endlessly from his center.

Ash choked and covered his mouth with one sleeve, eyes watering from the sting of poison. He stumbled backward, reaching back with one searching arm. His finger skimmed off the surface of his bag. He lunged back once more and managed to grab an exposed shirt. Folding it over, he immediately wrapped it around his nose and mouth, breathing as lightly as he could to avoid pulling in any more toxins.

Wraith launched a shadow ball, the ghostly energy exploding against Rhyhorn's spines and releasing a shockwave of energy. The ground type barely noticed it, gathering the leftover energy to launch a spite. Sneering with his eyes alone, Wraith dodged them and spat a night shade at Scorch, who yipped and blurred out of the way. Rhyhorn realized his physical moves wouldn't do much more than annoy the ghost and kept up with spite, firing it out and scoring a clean hit along Wraith's underside. It fazed him but he pushed off the energy drain, focusing instead on trying to poison Karma.

The kadabra was looking terrible. So far, she hadn't gotten more than within five feet to a calm Wraith and now he was actively coming for her, leaking ghostly energies and infusing the entire clearing. She had raised as many barriers and reflects as she could, but he could see pieces and chunks of the psychic energy melt off around the edges, her concentration unable to combat the ghostly aura and her exhaustion only yanking her further down into passing out. Her claws trembled.

Ash took command. "Scorch, burn hex! Rhyhorn, distract him with spite and rock blast while Gale, trying to keep his gases contained. Karma, just try and get away!"

Wraith gave him a look of betrayal as his own teammates moved to attack him, pure white eyes twitching as his gases thinned slightly. But he seemed to brush it off, lunging for the closest pokemon - Scorch - with a roar. An extension of his gases swept toward her, more potent than the rest, and though she dodged it, Ash could see his eyes beginning to gleam pink. He was going for daze.

There was no way he could fight the ghost off if he managed to take out some of his teammates. "Gale, just like Vermillion!"

The fearow shrieked his understanding and took higher into the air, wings gleaming with razor wind. Rhyhorn and Scorch both fell back, leaving Wraith alone the second before the blue-flecked wind slammed into his center. With a howling shriek, the gastly exploded into a puff of smoke.

Ash scrabbled for the pokeball, ready to have Nurse Joy sedate him to figure out what the hell was going on, when Rhyhorn growled a challenge. Pausing, he looked up just to see the gases not coming together.

When Wraith reformed and passed out, it had never taken more than a couple of seconds. Now, his gases were spinning around each other, twisting like a purple vortex. With every passing heartbeat, they darkened to a rich violet-black, growing thicker and thicker as they all watched nervously on.

Karma flinched violently just as the gases began to solidify. Wraith had only been two, maybe three feet tall but these kept expanding, lengthening out while not losing any of the opacity. Ash frowned as something thick formed around the outside, keeping the gases contained, and two smaller parts splintered off-

By the time he realized what was happening, a haunter floated before him instead of a gastly.

Wraith was _big_. Nearly six feet tall, with his added two feet from his levitation, he was a fearsome foe to face. His bloody eyes twitched, focusing, pupils sliding back into view. For the first time, the ghost type was able to close his fanged grin. He stretched the jagged claws on his detached hands and moved them around, a hiss bubbling up through the air as his eyes slid to Karma.

With a howl, he disappeared.

Ash jerked back. A wind crawled around the clearing, stirring up the leftover ghostly energies. He could have sworn he saw a glimmer in the air, like a heat mirage, somewhere above Scorch. There was a flash of violet and Wraith appeared. His hands separated from his body and stabbed downward, glowing with shadowy energy. Scorch was thrown to the ground, reddish fur obscured by shadows, screeching in pain. It took her far too long to rise again, eyes unfocused and moves sluggishly.

Wraith had finally accessed the thing Ash had wanted him to, but now he wasn't on his side. His non-corporeal form was invisible to the human eye and most pokemon's eyes, and while he couldn't attack in that form, he could sneak and get close. And Ash didn't have a way to defend against it.

"Scorch! Extrasensory. Try and find discrepancies in the environment - it might be Wraith. Rhyhorn, protect her. I need you to use your eyes, Gale - find where he could be!" Ash commanded, stepping back. He made eye contact with Karma, who was trembling.

Wraith's aura had been reigned in by his evolution, but his aggression was leaking it around the clearing. She was being crushed by the energy and had no way to combat it yet. Ash made a silent apology for putting her through this and clicked the button on her pokeball. Scarlet energy drenched her exhausted form and pulled her into the relief of her pokeball.

The haunter appeared again, claws dripping ghostly energy as they swiped through the area where Karma had been just moments ago. Ash tensed and got a hand on the ghost's pokeball, but he didn't recall him. He had prepared for this with Gale, but hadn't had to use it.

Wraith had to respect his strength instead of thinking Ash had just escaped the battle. He tightened his grip on the ball. Wraith only had a few more minutes before the adrenaline wore off and he was reduced to being stumbling and confused. "Gale, Scorch, border. Circle them both, don't let Wraith escape. Rhyhorn, front and center. Get ready," he said tightly.

Rhyhorn roared and stomped forward, tremors racing through the ground. His bad vision would only be accented by the fact he couldn't home in on Wraith through his weight because he was levitating, and most, if not all, of his attacks would be useless. But Wraith had respected Rhyhorn before, and Ash was going to capitalize on that. "Spite, keep him corporeal." The ghostly energy would hopefully confuse him enough he would stay solid.

Wraith attempted to phase out, but Rhyhorn had plenty of ghostly energy to draw upon to charge a spite. The ghost hissed, a deep baritone echoing inside Ash's head, grey arches of lightning emerging from beneath the spines on the back of his head. A shadow ball appeared in one of his hands, clenched between the hooked claws.

Rhyhorn tensed, ready to dodge, but Wraith simply detached the hand from its close orbit around his body and swept it forward. It spun around Rhyhorn's horn to slam directly between his eyes.

The ground type bellowed in rage, temporarily blinded. He summoned the one thing he didn't need to aim - shock wave. Reaching deep with him, hunting for the cells he needed to activate, he struggled before suddenly feeling the crackle of electricity in his horn. Roaring, he released it.

One of Wraith's hands was struck cleanly and ruptured, the ectoplasmic skin breaking and releasing the gases that made up his body. He yowled like a meowth, poisonous spines bristling as he felt the sharp pain. After only a few seconds, he shrunk an inch or two, a lump detaching from his side and forming a second hand. Ash guessed he had a finite amount of gas inside of him and could only reform that many times, but he remembered reading about energy too.

By the time he focused back onto the actual fight, Rhyhorn had reared up and thrown dozens of pounds of dirt and rocks at the ghost. Wraith wailed and cleanly disappeared from view, his non-corporeal form sending waves of wind to crash over the clearing. Scorch's eyes flickered sluggishly blue, fighting to contain the psychic energy in such a ghostly environment, but she managed to turn and launch several embers towards an innocent shadow. Wraith appeared, unhurt but startled as the embers passed through his invisible form.

Rhyhorn took the opportunity and launched a flamethrower. The fire roared through the clearing and Scorch leaped behind Wraith, taking the leftover flames to prevent setting the forest on fire. Wraith wailed in pain but wasn't used to his body enough to break up. After nearly a minute, Ash saw the tendrils of gas escaping upward. He clicked the button and recalled the fainted ghost. The ball barely shook, so exhausted as Wraith was.

Ash sagged. The clearing still rang with the fading song of death and he was both sweating from the flamethrower and freezing from the chills of Wraith's leftover aura. Rhyhorn rumbled sadly and nosed at the dirt blackened from the fire. While he and the ghost hadn't been best friends, they had respected each other's power. Gale swooped down and landed roughly, his normal typing helping to disrupt the energies. Scorch padded forward, making a chuffing noise deep in her throat.

He waited a moment for the aura to disperse before releasing Karma. She flinched as the shadows settled over her golden fur but adjusted quickly, still twitching occasionally. Her gaze, as calm as ever, met his and the question inside.

"Why did he attack?" He said quietly, drawing everyone's attention back on him. There was silence as Karma gathered her power to answer. She had still only managed around five words at a time with her shine, and Ash didn't expect it to increase for some time. Her shine gleamed as she drew it into active form, readying her answer.

 _Me. Lose. Battle. Promise. Break._ Her voice spluttered and popped on the final words, but she managed to get them across. Ash frowned as he tried to piece them together, speaking aloud for everyone's benefit.

"Well, I can see he'd be upset from his loss. Foresight is a nasty move to deal with. But why would he be upset with you? And what promise was-" He stiffened.

Because he had made a promise, and he had broken it. Long ago, in the one-way glass room of Vermillion's police department, he had wanted a fiery powerful ghost type and had made a promise to get it to join him. A promise to do _everything in my power to let you fight Team Rocket like you never could before_.

Ash closed his eyes. Wraith had seemingly been fine with the lack of criminals at first - Team Rocket couldn't exactly be found everywhere. But Ash hadn't once brought it up beside a single conversation in Mount Moon and, to make things worse, had left him behind once Karma joined the team.

It wasn't the fact she was a psychic type, or part of the Trio, or even her somewhat mischievous personality - it was that Ash had devoted his time almost completely to her instead of his promise.

Was Wraith being entirely reasonable? No. Ash did have to train Karma up to be on par with the rest of his team, but he could admit it. He liked being able to communicate with one of his team, liked being able to understand answers to his questions. Ash had ignored the promise he made to make Wraith strong enough to fight back like he hadn't been able to when he was trapped.

"Everyone, I'm recalling you." He held up a hand to stop their protests the moment they started. "No. I made a promise and didn't keep it. I'm going to make this right."

Karma seemed relieved to be pulled away from the shadowed clearing, but he felt the green-blue flash of worry across his mind. Scorch protested vehemently and Gale was only a moment behind, but Rhyhorn seemed to understand. He rumbled his warnings before allowing himself to be sucked into the pokeball.

Ash took a moment to breath. He unwrapped the shirt from around his mouth and nose and tested the air slowly - it was still slightly sharp and almost tangy, but there wasn't much he could do about that now. He'd have Nurse Joy check up on him when he went in for his pokemon. He tried to relax his posture, untensing his legs and rolling his shoulders. Though it didn't do much, he managed to force himself to calm down. Clicking the release on the coldest pokeball around his waist, he waited.

Though the red faded, there wasn't a haunter in front of him. Wind kicked up and stirred the burnt grass, the same baritone howl flicking through his skull. It wasn't very loud, though, and he guessed Wraith was too exhausted to really try and scream at him.

"Wraith," he said, not having to force the rough note in his voice. "I'm sorry."

The wind stopped.

"I made a promise to you and I haven't kept it. But that's going to change, alright? You're a haunter now. There are more techniques I can teach you to make you strong enough to fight them." He could feel a puff of something chilled against his exposed arms and felt bumps rise up his skin. "Team Rocket isn't everywhere. I don't know where they will be. But we know where to look for them, and there are other criminals who steal and enslave pokemon just like what happened to you, too. We can fight them."

Ash shivered and knew Wraith was directly in front of him, could feel the creeping tendrils of shadows picking at his loose clothing. But he stood his ground and continued talking. "I won't make the same mistake again, Wraith. You deserve better. But if you want to fight Team Rocket, you need to listen to me. Attacking Karma just because I helped her is not how you become strong. That's fighting something that can't fight back."

Wraith heard the hidden undertones and Ash had to hide his flinch as the stain in the back of his mind crept to life, sliding frozen fingers around his thoughts. He stared straight ahead.

"You know it, Wraith. You know that wasn't right. I will fight Team Rocket with you but not at the cost of my other friends."

Wraith hissed then, the sound coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Ash did grimace, the sound reverberating through his head until the ghost cut it off. "I don't know whether there is Team Rocket here. But I do know something."

He was struck then by a moment of quiet remembrance. Though Rhyhorn wasn't out, though the walls weren't full of watching police officers, though he couldn't see the one he was talking to, the scene was still similar. He waited, a wind brushing against his side as Wraith moved again, though he didn't know to where.

"Brock said he has some work for me. Part of his duties is chasing away criminals. If I can convince him, we could find people who steal pokemon from others, just like Team Rocket. It won't be easy. You might not be strong enough. But we can try."

Ash blinked as a sound like escaping gas reached his ears. He guessed it was Wraith becoming corporal once again but he couldn't see the ghost - looks like he hadn't been in front of him. Little awkward to consider he had just been talking to an empty clearing then. Something brushed the back of his ankle.

He turned around to see his shadow, lying against the flat ground. But it wasn't flat itself, full of wide bumps and jagged spikes. Wraith stared at him from it, fanged maw closed and eyes searching. Ash hoped they found their answer.

"Are you with me?"

Wraith hissed without moving his mouth, and Ash could see his two hands detach from the shadow in order to move up. They tilted forward, almost like a nod. Despite that, the message was clear.

 _Yes_.

xXx

"Hey, Ash!" Brock greeted. "What are you doing- oh, hello!" Wraith had half risen from Ash's shadow, trailing darkness from his fanged maw. Some deep part of Ash thoroughly enjoyed as the teen's face blanched as Wraith fully rose to his towering height of nearly eight feet while hovering, hooked claws twitching and eyes narrowed in a toothy smile, but Brock shoved it off quickly enough. "Well, I'm not sure Kabutops could have stood up to it now, that's for certain. Did he learn any new moves when he evolved? The Trio's well known for it."

Ash nodded. "Yeah, sucker punch. He's pretty rusty with it but it's coming along. I read his League entry - I'm excited to see his lick now."

And he really was. _A pokemon that lives in total darkness, hunting its next prey. It slips through solid walls and shadow in order to catch its prey by surprise. If it manages to lick them, their life is slowly drained away_.

"Yeah, but be careful. They can do some serious damage if too strong - you remember the whole issue a few years back when some kid in a battle had his haunter lick a nidorino and it died a few days later? They're nasty business."

Ash nodded. "I hadn't read that story but I know the danger. Wraith's going to have a lot of training before I let him use that move in battle."

"Wraith, huh?" When Ash nodded, Brock seemed impressed. "That's a good name. You don't see too many ghosts in the Conference - yours will definitely stand out. But are you here for training? I told you most of my jobs are for the weekdays, but I might have a few spare jobs, your rhyhorn should be able to help for most of them."

The haunter hissed, although Ash guessed he was the only one that could hear it. Wraith had gotten better at restraining his voice and the stain in Ash's head was only growing with every passing day. Ash could pick apart his sounds now, although this one didn't need much work. "Actually, I have a different request. Are there any, you know-" Arceus, he hadn't realized how awkward this was going to be to ask, "criminals I could help get rid of? With Wraith?"

Brock blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, criminals. Bad guys. Er." Ash rushed to fill in the silence. "Wraith was a Team Rocket pokemon that I helped rescue and now that he's evolved, I want to help him fight some more bad guys or help get rid of them so he feels like he's free, or like-"

Brock held up a hand, and Ash cut off, blushing from the part confused and part humorous smile the gym leader had on his face. "Well, I can't entrust you with some of my more serious duties. I'm a trained professional," he said a bit self deprecatingly, "though I know I don't look it. But I do have a couple of leads, pretty minor ones. You should be able to investigate at least one of them, if you're up to the task."

Forrest, Brock's younger brother and his main referee, trotted over at the gym leader's command. He produced a large map from his pocket, one, well-scribbled with different rings around the city. Ash recognized one as the city limits and another that was probably Brock's plan for this year. The teen pointed to a large box just outside the plans for the next year. "This building is supposed to be abandoned, but a few people across the streets have reported lights inside. Just go inside, check it out, see what's going on. Shouldn't be too much trouble, and if it's clean over the next couple days I've been thinking of making it a sort of open market for people. Think you could do that?"

A pleased chuckle echoed in Ash's head. He grinned, scanning a path across the map. Maybe a twenty-minute walk. "I can do it."

xXx

Ash frowned up at the building. While he hadn't expected any five-star hotel outlined with unovian gold or a barely held together clump of rock, he had guessed it would be slightly more… well, more. It was a boring three-story building made of grey stone with boarded windows and a 'No Entry' sticker on the closed front door, nothing defining about it in the slightest.

Wraith hissed from his shadow as if urging him on, but he didn't emerge. The ghost, now that he had evolved, despised sunlight, as it heated up his trapped inner gases and made them expand, if slightly. Ash guessed it was like having eaten way too for dinner and feeling a too small piece of butter on toast, and he let the ghost stay beneath him while he walked through the streets.

He ducked under an overgrown tree that was already mostly dead and walked toward the front door, pausing only to kick over an old bag. Something chittered but it had already buried under the ground by the time he got there, the bag hiding the entrance to some burrow. He shuffled the covering back over it and kept moving.

Brock didn't exactly have a key to a building abandoned nearly a decade and a half ago, but Ash barely had to jiggle the handle for it to pop open. He was hit from a wave of dust, gagging before he had the sense to cover his face in his coat and wait.

Eventually, it settled down enough for him to go inside. Wraith immediately peeled himself off the ground and rose through the air, humming in excitement. Ash smiled as the ghost blurred around the room, exploring everything, though he couldn't help the wide grin that spread once he realized how well the haunter blended into the shadows. He had to purposely try and track movement instead of the violet coloration of the poison type.

Wraith had adjusted rather well to his form. His body was by a broken fireplace, one hand touching along a cracked table, and the third was poking some boxes to Ash's left. The haunter couldn't see what they were doing but seemed capable of understanding whatever sensations they were sending back, adjusting their destinations according. In the time it took for Ash's eyes to adjust to the gloom after shutting the door behind them, Wraith had explored the entire first couple of rooms.

They were wide, several walls having been knocked down, and completely full. Storage units from probably everyone in the entire city it seemed like, endless boxes and broken furniture lining the walls. A hearty coating of dust was littered along shattered bottles and pieces of twisted plastic, and he was suddenly very grateful for his extra thick protective boots.

"Anything?" he asked, his breath kicking up a small cloud of dust. Wraith shook one of his hands in a no before moving on quickly. His gases thinned, his ectoplasmic skin dispersing slightly as he prepared to pass through a wall. Ash winced as Wraith stuck his head up through the ceiling, turning around as he surveyed the upper level. An idea struck him.

He looked around the rock, finding a decently sized rock that seemed to have shattered one of the boarded windows, and picked it up. "Catch," he said, before tossing it to Wraith's closest hand.

It reflexively closed around the surface as soon as it touched the skin, but it was clear Wraith couldn't exactly see through his hands. The ghost hissed audibly and reemerged from the ceiling, spines raised and looking for a threat. When he noticed that he had only been 'attacked' by a rock, the glare he sent at Ash was impressive.

"My bad. But can you take this with you when you phase?"

Wraith hummed in the back of his mind, staring at the rock. He called his other hand back and stuck in through the center of the stone, wiggling it around as he got used to it on a more molecular level. After a moment, he seemed satisfied, withdrawing his hand and sending the other up toward the ceiling.

It took a moment longer, but Ash could see the same effect happen to the rock - growing almost slightly transparent. Wraith frowned, fangs grinding together as he shoved it through the ceiling. It was gone.

He withdrew his hand, sans rock, and turned to Ash. It was clear it was taxing - his previously proud spines were lowered and his claws drooped - but it was possible. He grinned. "Just a possible attack. Did you see anything up there?"

From Wraith's suddenly gleaming eyes, yes.

He led Ash through the first floor, going in front of him. Ash didn't take out his flashlight, trusting the ghost in the barely-lit decrepit building. Once or twice, Wraith had stopped him from stepping on several parts of the floor, and though Ash couldn't see it he could guess that the supports were failing. Dust settled over his skin and though he tried to scrub it off, he only ended up dispersing more and covering the area in a grey haze. Wraith tried to help blow it away, but he did more harm than good and stopped.

Eventually, they found the staircase. It looked several levels above ricketedy, railings on the ground and whole sections missing, but Wraith deemed it sufficient. Ash had to take nearly five minutes getting up it safely, following the six-foot shadow. The light grew almost darker as they went higher, the window boards switching from loose planks to securely nailed down boards of higher quality.

That was strange. He took note of that even as he leaped across a hole in the stairs.

The second floor wasn't much better, but Ash could see what Wraith had meant about seeing something. There was the rock they had brought up, another enormous pile of cardboard boxes, even a pokeball broken in half and covered in pounds of dust. But there was also a desk that looked far newer than anything else in the house.

He frowned, stepping closer. While it hadn't been dusted, there was less grey on it than everything else. The wood was still stained, a light brown-red, and the brass knobs showed far less wear and tear than the stairs. He opened each drawer and found nothing but blank papers and sharpened pencils.

Again, not the thing to find in the middle of a room in an abandoned building. He opened his mouth to speak but paused.

Wraith reacted at something, hissing quietly in the back of Ash's mind. He frowned, looking at the ghost, only to see his bloody eyes staring at the ceiling. They weren't focused, however, on the old stone - it was as if he was seeing past it, like it was opaque.

The staircase to the third floor was in better condition. Ash hopped awkwardly up it, both of Wraith's hands hovering behind him in case he lost his balance. He thanked the ghost and looked around.

Eight chairs circling a wide wooden table, each twisted like someone had been sitting there. An old lantern sat in the middle, turned off, several empty batteries lying next to it. Dust was heavy over its surface but inches lighter than everything else in the house.

Wraith, however, didn't focus on anything else. He ducked low, sinking partially through the floor to jab one hand beneath the table. Ash walked closer, watching his step, before kneeling and looking beneath.

A folder was pinned beneath the table, hidden in a sort of attached pocket. Ash would never have found it without Wraith. He reached and grabbed a hold, pulling it out. Only a few papers were inside, and he laid them all out on the table.

They were diagrams, printed out on graph paper and covered in pencil marks. Ash could recognize all three, however, having seen two and read about the third. The Pewter Pokemon Center, the Pewter Gym, and the Pewter Museum.

It showed a pidgey's eye view of the buildings, transparent to see each of the rooms on the lowest floor. Red circles stood in certain places, names scrawled within - Nurse Joy, Forrest, Brock, others. Red dotted lines showed paths from several different rooms, each connecting to one of the circles.

Blue lines showed the windows, green the doors, and yellow was etched in a strange pattern Ash guessed was the ventilation. He frowned, reading more carefully. Each diagram had a series of notes that corresponded with the page, with the Pokemon Center one having a bright, bold stamp on the top saying _completed_.

Wraith hissed, one hand sliding forward and pointing to a section of the diagram. Ash looked back and saw an orange line tracing along the line of the ventilation, curving around where any of the red lines were. He frowned, tracing his finger along with. Every couple of rooms, there was a black dot next to the orange line. Keeping his hand on it, he looked back to the list of notes and found what black meant. Fire starters.

His heart skipped a beat. He read through the list of notes faster than anything else he'd ever read, skipping jerkily across lines and having to go back up. In the end, he sucked in a deep breath and leaned back. Something cold touched his back - one of Wraith's hands - and he realized he was swaying.

Last time he had read something like this, he had panicked. Not this time. Sucking in a deep breath, he forced himself to slowly read over the document again, reading through the other two as well.

The Pokemon Center was dated to nearly six months ago and had the stamp of being completed. Neither of the other two had dates and the plans weren't as well finished, question marks lining the outside of the diagram. Ash took in another lungful of air and scooped up the papers, turning to Wraith and nodding. The ghost mimicked the motion and retracted his hand, twitching his claws and pointing toward the paper. Ash began to read it aloud, pausing frequently to show what he was talking about on the diagram.

By the time he finished, Wraith's spines were quivering, claws falling away from his body to scratch against the stone floor. Ash flinched at the grating sound and the ghost stopped, but it was clear from his narrowed eyes and bared fangs that he was furious. The trainer watched in interest as a drop of actual venom emerged from the tip of Wraith's fangs. Most likely just solidified gas, but that would be dangerous if it was injected into a pokemon.

"Come on," Ash said quietly, sliding the papers back into the folders. The tremor in his hand showed the anger he was trying to hide. "Let's show this to Brock."

xXx

The teen was perched in his usual position on his platform, seeming to be meditating, but Ash knew he was watching the field avidly. On it, Crobat was seemingly testing out its wings, the edges still missing fur from Scorch's fireballs. Golem lumbered beneath, making new rock formations for the next challenger, its chest still looking tender.

"Hey, Brock!" Ash called, the teen's head jerking toward him when he announced his presence. Brock unfolded from his position and loped toward him, a grin on his face. His pokemon looked up at Ash, but beside narrowed eyes from Golem, they had registered him as not a threat, though he guessed there might be a few bruised egos.

"What'd you find?" He asked, stretching out his hand for the folder. Ash handed it over quickly, glaring down at the plain manilla. This was the second time he had found incriminating evidence, but he wouldn't panic this time. He wouldn't be of any use then.

Wraith twitched his spines, emerging to float quietly behind Ash. Though Ash could see his gases writhing beneath his ectoplasmic skin, he seemed almost remarkably calm. The ghost was good at controlling his emotions. Ash tried to take a leaf from his book and stood still as Brock read over the papers.

When he finished, the gym leader let out a low whistle. "Damn. I didn't Garza went to this much planning - he's kind of a one trick ponyta, you know?"

"Garza?"

"Oh, my bad." Brock shuffled through the papers as he talked. "Damian Garza. He's a little older than me, lives in the outer levels, a 'real leader', or tries to be. For about a year or so, he's been trying to replace me as gym leader."

Ash jerked back, eyes wide, but Brock waved it off. "Don't worry. No one likes what I do - he's just a little more vocal about it. About five months ago, a fire started in the Pokemon Center, and he took the opportunity to blame me for not being a good enough leader to stop it. I had my suspicions that he caused it, but this proves it." He shuffled the papers back into the folder. "Thanks. I'll just take the building down now - not much use in keeping it if Damian uses it as some sort of meeting place. Did you see anyone in there or was there just this folder?"

"Just the folder." He frowned. "Why don't you use that to get him arrested, or something? If he started a fire in a League building, that should be plenty!"

Brock smiled self deprecatingly. "Doesn't work like that, Ash. What you found are just plans - there are no names beside mine on there. Sure, we could try and catch them in the building, but even that wouldn't prove anything. Lots of people use old buildings as storage. I can know that he started the fire, but I can't prove it. Damian isn't the sharpest honedge in the pack but he knows how to cover his tracks."

Ash stared at the folder, eyes narrowed. This was too close to the Game Corner for him to feel safe. "What about if they attack the gym? Like the diagram says?"

Brock shrugged, bringing out the diagram. He splayed it flat over the folder, tracing several of the lines with his fingers. "They've got the right idea, but I've got a team of geodude constantly running security here, as well as other measures. If anyone gets in here or tries to destroy anything, I can blow up certain parts of the gym to stop them while leaving the important parts safe. The Museum has its own team protecting it and their security is pretty top notch - the League wouldn't leave all that important DNA and fossils alone with just anything, though there's been talk of moving it to Cinnabar."

"Like I said, I defend this gym. I've been here since I wasn't old enough to talk and I'll be here long after. Damian thinks I'm driving this gym into the ground but I'm the only one actually bring it and the city back into the light. If he took over, the League might completely pull funding, not that they aren't making an effort already. I'll go down long before I let him take over the Pewter gym."

Ash could feel the power and strength the teen was practically vibrating with. Brock was the youngest League gym leader in Kanto but he acted far older, doing better with Pewter than any adults before him. He nodded. "What can I do to help?"

xXx

Ash woke to the sound of a voice in his room. It was still dark from behind his closed eyelids, and when he twitched the tips of his fingers he could feel the silken sheets of the Pokemon Center. Too many wild pokemon attacks still left him lying quiet, keeping his eyes closed as he reached out with his other senses.

Something cold touched his shoulder and he couldn't restrain his flinch. But as it kept touching it, he could recognize the almost slippery ectoplasmic skin of one of Wraith's hands. It didn't try to shake him away, simply let him know of its presence, keeping its hooked claws away from his skin.

He could hear the rumble of Rhyhorn, though it wasn't threatening, and a quiet baritone hiss echoed through his head. Beyond all that, however, was a warm, if gruff, voice speaking quietly. Brock.

Deciding that Brock was probably very far from a threat, he grunted and opened his eyes. The room was pitch black, but a sliver of light came in from the open door. Rhyhorn looked back, acknowledging him with a bob of his scarlet eyes, but he kept most of his attention on Brock, who stood in the doorway. Wraith stuck to the shadows, his other hand tight to his body.

"Wha' you doin' 'ere?" Ash yawned, barely forcing the words out. Sleep clumped his eyes shut and he rubbed sluggishly to get them to open properly. "Wait, wha' time 's it-"

"Five in the morning," Brock said, and Ash could hear the grin in his voice. "If you want to earn some cash, we need to get started. Come on, I've been awake for an hour."

"You know," Ash grunted out, stumbling behind the teen as they walked through the deadly silent city, "when I heard all that stuff about you working from dawn to dusk to save Pewter, I kind of took it as a metaphor."

Brock's laugh was rich. "I can function pretty perfectly on five hours of sleep if I need to. Don't even need caffeine - I've been waking up this early since I was almost six. Besides, there's always something to do. My official gym hours are 12-6 and so I have to get everything else done around that time. I'm not a big enough gym leader to have a thing where challengers have to sign up days in advance, so I can't leave during that time. I won't deny it isn't the best system, but I work around it."

Ash was finally awake enough to consciously look around. They were in a less prosperous side of Pewter, though he'd guess they were still within the city limits. Lamp posts gleamed as best they could, spread too far apart, but he was able to make out most of the things around. A good number of the buildings were nicely made, mainly houses, but Ash could see a few more decrepit ones hiding amongst the rest. Brock kept walking, and Ash could now see he was wearing shorts despite the chilly morning air and some sort of exercise shirt, arms cut loose and almost eerily similar to what Lt. Surge wore. "You never actually told me what we're doing."

Brock nodded. "From what I can tell, Ash, you don't exactly seem like the type to back down. The issue comes with the fact that very few people respect what I've signed you up for, and I like to be safe rather than sorry. I don't know if you were expecting more sneaky missions like yesterday's, but I have a very different task in mind, and I'll tell you when we get there."

Ash accepted that. He lived to go his own route, both figuratively and literately, but whatever Brock was peddling didn't exactly sound like it was the thing trainers who only stuck to the safe routes would do. He straightened his shoulders and marched on.

Eventually, they arrived at a site very different than those around it. The stone building that had been there was completely shattered, almost like a bomb had gone off inside it. Broken metal rods twisted out of the earth like roots and he could have sworn he saw the spark of electric wires farther in the back.

"A week or two ago, this building collapsed. Faulty piping - the people living here didn't pay for an annual check-up and it exploded on them. They've been staying in the Pokemon Center while they look for a new house but I still have to do something with this," Brock said, gesturing toward the rubble.

"Pewter doesn't have very many trainers, so I rarely have much pokemon help with this. My team helps out as best they can but I really only use them to eat the broken cement - it's a bit like candy to them, honestly. Most of the time I have to do it by myself. I used to have a League team stationed here to help me out with things like this, but the League recalled most from me and left them at the Museum with strict orders to stay there and defend it." A bitter note had entered its voice before the teen chased it away.

Brock looked up at him. "Call our your team, please. They should be able to help."

While he was waking a few of them up - namely Gale - Brock had strode off to a farther corner, disappearing easily into the darkness, before reappearing with a wide sort of wagon, large with towering walls that could probably fit a dragonite or two and still be comfortable. He patted the side. "You guys will be using these. I think I've got three spaced out around the property - go find them and start clearing the rock. If it gets full, tell me, and I'll have Golem take it back to the gym."

All of Ash's pokemon looked back at him for permission and, when he gave it, moved off. Rhyhorn immediately used rock blast and began loading up the wagon. Karma's ears perked up and her shine glowed, focusing on a large wall and beginning to wrench it from the ground with the wail of rending metal. Wraith detached his hands, sending them off to gather stones, while he went off in search of something he could grab in his mouth. Gale took to the air, grabbing the metal rods in his talons and beginning to pull. Scorch couldn't do much, lacking opposable thumbs or psychic powers, but she managed to use her beginnings of iron tail to place rocks on her tails and launch them into the wagon. Ash barely bit back a snicker at that.

When he focused back, Brock had pulled out something from a bag slung over his shoulders. It was a wide lantern, similar to the one in the abandoned building, and he clicked a few buttons to leave the site flooded with a warm yellow light. Ash nodded - it was ridiculously dark - and made to move toward his pokemon, but Brock held up his hand.

"When I said I did them by hand, I wasn't kidding," he said seriously. Ash just noticed the empty pokeballs around his waist. "I've released the only pokemon who are really able to walk around here and not destroy the site more, a few geodude. But other than them, I would do this myself."

Brock moved around the lantern, heading toward the wagon. Hitting a switch, a door popped open that allowed much easier access to the inside. Already, several rocks littered the inside. The teen knelt down by a pile and grabbed a rock, his hands wide and heavily scarred in the light. He tossed it easily inside the wagon, turning to Ash.

Ash was lost in thought. He could Brock spending imagine endless days crouching under the uncaring sun, ripping up broken buildings with his own hands, trying to stem the bleeding of a city the League had already given up on. He thought back to the old days, before they had pokemon, before they had the technology, when those that wanted to survive didn't rely on their starter's bulk and power to muscle through any challenge life gave them.

Brock raised an eyebrow, but it was clear to see there was apprehension on the gym leader's face. He didn't expect the trainer to actually help him.

Ash nodded, rolled up his sleeves, and got to work.

xXx

The first day had gone rather well, but neither of them had said very much. Ash had been exhausted, both physically and mentally, and he had had a six-hour break in the middle. Wraith had partaken in a few battles with the trainers he could find around the city with Gale taking the rest, but there wasn't enough. If he wanted to battle in order to get all the money for food, he'd be here for weeks. Not enough trainers came through.

At six, he had been at the gym, as hunched over and sore as he was. Brock had laughed and set him on Rhyhorn for the walk there, and then they had worked for another four hours, clearing an impressive part of the site. Brock had been very thankful for Karma - psychics made the whole thing much easier. Ash had stumbled to the Pokemon Center like he was twelve shots in and a lightweight before promptly collapsing on his bed and snoozing away without changing.

Rhyhorn had learned to read the time on his pokedex pretty early on as a starter for the notorious sleeper in that Ash was, and had woken him up five minutes before Brock was going to arrive. Ash had peeled the sticky clothes off, jumped in for a record shower that only served to take the bite of sleep off, and was leaning against the wall like he could sleep there as well by the time Brock knocked.

The second day, however, had broken down a few barriers they had had. Ash started it by complaining about a sore muscle and Brock added something and then they were actually talking, holding a conversation that lasted as long as each of them could hear each other.

It was very interesting, and Brock was nice to talk to. He was a treasure trove of random bits of knowledge, learned from his years of studying in order to take over the gym, and Ash learned a flood of things about Rhyhorn he hadn't known before.

Eventually, the conversation turned to more personal things. Ash didn't remember what had led to it, but he had mentioned Celadon and Brock's face had immediately gone stormy. He had hesitatingly pressed and the teen had only been so willing to continue talking.

"About two months ago, the League pulled another chunk of my funding. I barely get anything now," Brock groused, ripping up another chunk of stone and all but throwing it into the wagon. "Celadon apparently needs it more - now that their Game Corner is out of commission, they need some to _get back on their feet_. As if."

His shoulders were tight as he tore through the rubble with increasing vigor. "In three days the Celadon Department Store earns what I get for funding in a month. Celadon already got nearly seven times what I earn from the League itself." An actual growl rippled its way up his throat. "But of course, damn fucking _Pewter_ doesn't need funding, it lost its potential decades ago, Mount Moon disconnects us from the rest of the world…"

"Then they _refuse_ to acknowledge Damian Garza as a threat against-" Brock stopped talking. Ash waited a moment before glancing over, seeing the teen almost awkwardly pick up a piece of rock and add it to the wagon.

"I'm sorry. You don't need to hear this. I'll just-" Brock trailed off, seemingly not knowing where to continue. He knelt again, tilting his head away from Ash and focusing very intensely on the ground.

"Hey, Brock." The teen turned to him. "Seriously, it's fine. You deserve the chance to rant - the League shouldn't have reduced your funding nor pulled their teams from your sites. If anyone should say their mind, it's you." Brock still seemed a bit hesitant. " _Surge_ trusted me to not say some pretty important facts he discovered to people. I won't say anything, I swear."

He was granted a true smile from the teen, who began talking again, hesitantly at first before picking up steam again. Ash smiled, though Brock couldn't see it, and continued working, making sure to agree at the right moments and mentally mark everything down.

That night, when they finished up, Brock ruffled Ash's hair like an older brother. Ash, in return, flicked water at him from his bottle and tried to bolt. Brock's infinitely longer and stronger legs nabbed him before he could get anywhere, and he was on the ground trying to break free from the noogie Brock had successfully pinned him in. He laughed so hard tears were streaming down his face, and the smile on the face lasted all the way through the night.

xXx

"Did you know I might be replaced?" Brock said almost casually, kicking aside a lump of rock and grabbing it. They were still working on the main collapse area, the pokemon a bit away to at least give them a chance to make a dent.

Ash stiffened. "What? By Damian?"

"Well, yeah, there is that. But no." The leader shook his head. "Not just me. The whole gym. Not enough people are coming here and tourism is declining even more, apparently, even with all the work I've been doing. The Nibi clan was one of the founding fathers of the Indigo League and just because the clan died out, their gym is being ignored. You bet the Cinnabar Gym won't ever lose founding despite Blaine taking off just because he was an old member of the Elite Four."

Ash didn't know how to process, gritting his teeth as he tried to dig a piece of stone from where it was half buried in the ground. "Did the League tell you that?"

"Course not." Brock scoffed. "The kid they might replace me with sent a hundred and one apologies when he realized his name was in the bidding. You heard of the Seafoam Islands, yeah?" When Ash nodded, he continued. "The gym there's pretty small but it's not struggling too much with the nice amount of tourism there. Kid's name is Jonathan. Uses ice types, of course, and he's gotten a fair amount of training from Pryce so he's pretty confident." There was a smile on his face, however wane. "Nice kid, really. Really wouldn't think that the grandkid of ol' cold-hearted Pryce would do that, but he does."

"Wait, so Jonathan had to tell you they were thinking of replacing you? Not the League?"

Brock looked at him like he was insane before his expression smoothed over. "My bad, forgot you weren't working for them." He chuckled. "You're quite easy to talk to, ya know?"

He cleared his throat. "But yeah. The League does a lot of good, everyone knows that, but their best interests aren't always the best for those working under them. They have to focus on the public show and how they present to other regions before they can really get all of their flunkies' issues fixed. I've reported Damian and his gang a dozen times or so and the only person to help me out has been Surge and Daisy. Gym leaders stick up for each other, except for Blaine when he suddenly went cold on all meetings."

"Surge came in and busted one of their meetings with his raichu," Brock said a bit blissfully, settling back as he remembered the memory. "Damian used to have these big meetings outside of city limits about why he would be a better gym leader. Had me a bit worried, but I asked for help and Surge teleported over within the hour. Showed up and gave everyone thirty seconds before electricity would start flying. Damian tried to stand up to him - or so I heard - and no matter what he did, his hair wouldn't stop crackling for nearly a week. They don't have those meetings anymore, at least not in public." His grin went away to a scowl. "I don't have the funds to hunt them down and check."

Ash couldn't think of anything to say and settled for working on a piece of windowsill. The whole site seemed dead, but they were clearing it enough to show deep brown beneath it, and he could see where the beginnings of grass were going to grow in. It added another life to the destruction that had happened here.

By the time the second day was over, Ash felt extremely at peace despite the aching cries each one of his muscles gave.

xXx

Brock had a habit of singing. He had a rich voice and was most definitely a baritone, so much so that Ash almost thought it was Wraith when the tune began out. It was still dark out and the song settled gently over him like a blanket as he worked, the only sound beyond the crash of rock against rock.

 _Though the early morning hours have gone away_

 _Though the sky and clouds are only grey_

 _I greet the colors I see_

 _Lying here down under the sun_

 _When all others have gone and run_

 _There are memories-_

The song abruptly cut off.

Ash glanced over, curious as to why it had stopped, and saw Brock's flaming cheeks. The gym leader had, apparently, forgotten he was there again. "Have you ever thought about performing?"

If it was possible, Brock's cheeks grew brighter.

xXx

"The issue with Mount Moon tourism is that there's actually very little to show them," Brock complained. "The so-called Moon Stone has only been seen by one person, a telepath named Mina with a clefable, and despite all the popularity it got, we haven't been able to find anything about it."

Ash narrowed his eyes. He had heard a ton about the Moon Stone from Professor Oak, who had been giddy about the sighting, and would have thought people would have been excited over it. "What do you mean?"

"Well, there's only one confirmed sighting of it, around fifteen years ago, and there's absolutely nothing about it that we can find in anything here. The Nibi clan - who explored every inch of that mountain, let me tell you - never found anything like it and since Mina apparently tested it with her jigglypuff, it doesn't evolve pokemon like an actual Moon Stone would. But she swore up and down that it _was_ the Moon Stone, no matter whether it was like any of the other moon stones we know." He sighed, scratching the back of neck in the gleaming heat. "She went back to Alola and we haven't been able to reach her for comment since, but the pictures she painted were blasted online for a couple of years."

Ash nodded. "I see what you mean. And not a lot of tourists want to try and find something that only one person was actually able to find, right?"

"If they aren't handed something, they don't want it," Brock groaned, swiping a hand over his face. "Honestly, I _swear_ , they're only a few steps away from demanding we just bring the mountain to them."

xXx

"See, Golem is absolutely _awful_ at powering through attacks. I swear, Arceus was going to give him the ability sturdy, but knowing him, Golem probably told him off for even _thinking_ about giving him that. He likes his rock head, but mainly so I don't expect him to try and run through a hydro pump or anything. For as much as he is a towering, powerful, seven hundred pound being of power and strength, he is so prissy about being wet."

Ash smiled. "What about ice?"

"Oh, don't even get me _started_ on how he hates water, frozen or not. Honestly, you'd think he was raised in a volcano for all he isn't used to being cold…"

xXx

"I thought you were kidding," Ash said a bit faintly. Rhyhorn, from his sprawled out position on the ground, rumbling happily before taking another bite of the cement.

"Told you." Brock patted his shoulder. "All those added chemicals make it like candy - not necessarily healthy but very tasty." He stared at the ground type, who had eaten at least half a wagon and didn't look to be stopping. "Though that's a little excessive."

Rhyhorn didn't react. Golem, who was picking through the pile much more carefully, gave him a haughty stare.

"Vermillion uses some sort of special recipe to help protect against the sea, right? Apparently, it's delicious. Did I ever tell you the story where Golem tried to start eating the sidewalks?"

Ash laughed. Golem tried furiously to wave his trainer off with a panicked expression, but Brock was only too happy to tell the story in full.

xXx

"Hey Brock, what's the difference between a regular gym and one that's League sponsored?"

The gym leader frowned, standing fully up and switching the weight of a rock between his hands. "Well, any city can have a gym. They sign some papers, turn it into the League, and they get a small amount of money a year to create their badges. The League usually sponsors eight gyms - the big eight - and they basically appoint the gym leader to be the one in charge of the town, funneling all funds directly to their pocket so that they can keep the city alive. There's been a few cases of corrupt gym leaders, but they're crushed pretty fast."

Ash blinked. "So you're the mayor of Pewter?"

"Well, not quite." Brock grinned. "I prefer 'Your Lord and Savior' but 'Your Highness' works fine, too."

xXx

Ash had not been looking forward to when they were going to finish. As the hours slipped by, the stones faded more and more. All of his pokemon had swept the field and were clearing it very intensely. Brock and Ash had managed to clear a small piece themselves, with Brock's geodude circling around them and helping out. Golem had had to take back many wagons and, when they were getting close, he had used a couple of brick breaks to take down the larger remaining walls.

But Brock, once he had warmed up to him, had talked about the lack of funding for both his gym and his city. And Ash had only signed up to help him out because he needed money for his own journey. A prickle of guilt went down his spine.

Brock grinned and stretched, leaning down. Rhyhorn rumbled and stepped a bit closer, nosing at the half-full wagon between them. Ash could feel his shoulders pop as he mimicked Brock' stretching before taking a step closer, looking at the last chunk of broken cement on the ground. The gym leader grabbed it and tossed it easily to him. "Here you go."

With a smile, Ash caught it. The rock gleamed blue and Karma made a teasing attempt to throw it into the wagon, but Ash managed to catch it before she could manage. Her ears perked innocently and he settled for flicking her shoulderplate before she teleported away.

Grinning, he tossed it into the wagon. It clanged against the metal and other chunks, upsetting the pile, but the job was now done. Golem, from where he had grabbed a hold on the front, made a low rumble and began his journey back toward the gym, easily lugging it behind him.

The site was now bare. Without the broken grey cement, all that was left was smooth brown earth, waiting for the next building to come along. Brock grinned at it, brushing dust off of his bare shoulders. "Another one done. I've got some building plans cooking so I should be able to get it started pretty soon, though construction might take a while. Weather's been pretty unsteady for the past month or so."

Ash could agree. Brock shifted over to him and slung an arm over his shoulder, smiling. "Come on. Let's get you your reward."

And just like that, he was nervous again.

They began walking back through the town. It was a little before eleven and was still warm outside. Ash didn't exactly have the best grasp on days, despite having spent nearly a week in Pewter, but he guessed it was a weekday since only a few people were out. Several greeted Brock warmly, which the gym leader returned. Ash gritted his teeth and made himself speak up.

"Brock," Ash said hesitantly. "I can't accept you paying me. That's just- it's not fair. I'm going to stay here for a week or two more, I can challenge enough trainers then and be out of your hair."

He spared a glance over at the gym leader when he didn't reply. To his surprise, Brock was smiling softly. "Thought you'd say that. Haven't you wondered why we're heading to the Pokemon Center instead of the gym?"

Ash hadn't, but now he was able to see the route was different than normal. "Why?"

"I could see it in your eyes as I talked to you; you wouldn't want to pull my funding, right? So I struck a deal with Nurse Joy. We're still renovating the Pokemon Center from Damian's attack and I agreed to give her another operation room in return for a full set of supplies for you."

"What? But an operation room must cost thousands - I just need some pokemon food, I swear. That's even worse," he said, shaking his head. "Seriously, I'll just challenge some trainers along Route 2 or 3. It shouldn't take me that long."

Brock laughed. "Ash, it's fine. I was already planning on adding another room and Nurse Joy knows it. She knows you and all the work you've done to help me out, and she was going to give you the supplies for free but we're adding this deal so the League doesn't think we're giving their items away willy-nilly. Don't worry," he said almost soothingly.

Ash punched his shoulder. "You could have told me that!"

"Hey, I did!"

xXx

Nurse Joy had already gathered most of everything Ash could need. Nearly a month's worth of food for each of his pokemon, a dozen and a half potions, as well as a new flashlight and protective blanket. Ash tried to give most of it back but she refused, threatening to throw in a new survival knife if he kept protesting.

Brock had only thirty minutes before he had to go back to the gym, but he stayed by Ash's side while the boy gathered up the rest of his supplies. When Ash made to say goodbye and leave, he stayed there, a nervous expression on his face.

"I do have something for you, Ash," Brock said, and he withdrew a thin disk from one of his many pockets. It was covered by a protective casing, a small label on the corner. He took it carefully, reading over the piece of paper. _Rock Polish_.

"It's not a very commonly used move, but it's incredibly useful. You saw me use it - it helps remove extra growth to allow them to move faster." Brock grinned. "It's a favourite of mine. Rock types are notorious for their slow speed, but this changes things. Besides, I think you're going to need it when your rhyhorn evolves into a rhyperior."

Ash nodded. "You think I can?"

"Yeah." Brock had a softer smile on his face. "You've got a lot of potential, Ash. Anyone can see it. If anyone can manage to find a protector, you will."

Ash thanked him profusely, which the gym leader accepted with a smile before having to head off toward his gym. They exchanged numbers and then Ash was off, pokeballs proud on his waist. He would wait until he was out of Pewter to release them.

The outskirts of Pewter were still far from comfortable, but Ash wasn't that scared of it anymore. He took a short detour to stare at the building Damian had made plans to burn the Pokemon Center in. It was just as cold and dull as it had been before, but now he knew that Brock was going to be tearing it down.

Route 2 wasn't too long, but what interrupted it in the middle was the Viridian Forest. He had gone through a section of it before, armed with only Rhyhorn and Gale, and now he had almost a full team to fight his way through the depths of the bug-infested forest. He couldn't help the grin that went over his face. While he would be going through the Diglett Cave again to get to Fuschia faster, but now he would be able to challenge threats in both trainers and pokemon.

Ash turned to take off his bag and grab his water bottle when something caught his eye. A small package attached to the side, partially hidden behind a buckle. He removed it, frowning at the wrapping. After only a moment of examination, he laughed.

Looks like Nurse Joy had added that survival knife after all.

xXx

 **Hey guys! Eight thousand words above my average for a whopping 28k!**

 **Also, yeah, the Moon Stone is kind of a big deal. It's not a moon stone, which is the thing that makes clefairy/jigglypuff/etc evolve, but something much bigger. It'll be covered later on.**

 **I've been using both Let's Go and Ultra Sun movesets for my team, fyi.**

 **I recently reread Essence for the first time in about a year and can't help but be nervous. As far as my current plans go, we are going to be sharing a few of the same pokemon. I'm going to be banking on the fact that some could technically be canon pokemon, but I would just like to warn people about that if you love Essence with your heart and soul. My apologies.**

 **In this story, the League isn't perfect. Too many stories - even partially Traveler - like to make Lance and the Elite Four pretty, perfect figurines to never do any wrong. That's not the case here. They will have faults. They will make mistakes. They will not know what to do. And I'm going to show all of it. Just like with Team Rocket, I've planned it out extensively, and I hope you enjoy.**

 **According to the poll, I will be giving Ash a few realistic out-of-Kanto pokemon.**

 **Please enjoy and review!**


	7. Emergence

There was a reason the Viridian Forest was listed as one of Kanto's best landmarks.

It enveloped him from the moment he stepped inside, the same thick, almost stuffy smell he remembered from his first entrance entering it. The trees crowded him, barely restrained by the flat dirt path, and when they couldn't stop his travel they settled for extending their reach above. Constant shade covered the path to the point where it felt like the sun had given up. All he could see was green and brown.

Flashes of pokemon constantly moved around him. Pidgey and the line shrieked warnings from branches, though they shut up quickly when Gale screeched his own challenge from above. Bright purple tails bounced around in the bushes, the bark of trees gnawed down by endless waves of rattata. The dirt was occasionally scorched on the path or surrounding area, caused by released electricity from the wild packs of roaming pikachu. Countless weedle and caterpie stared quietly at him from branches. Once or twice, he had heard the clicking of ariados pincers and had stayed close to Rhyhorn until they passed.

A horde of beedrill passed through one time, far more than the one or two scouts he remembered hearing with Leaf. The memories hit him harder than he expected. Rhyhorn was quiet as they passed, moreso thinking back to his old friend machop than any sort of fear of them.

The other side of the forest had been the same when he first passed through but, as he was closer to the more populated side of Kanto, there were more trainers to challenge. A few had started toward him before abruptly leaving when they saw the bulky rhyhorn by his side, but most were up to the challenge. He fought all that accepted, using the excessive amount of poison types to help train his team for Fuschia City. While a few pokemon had stood out to him, most fled immediately or couldn't actually fight well.

He idly wondered whether he should try and find Gideon's farm. The man had said it was nearby Viridian, though he didn't remember where it was. Gideon had given him a priceless bit of information about the Diglett Cave, which he was going to use again whenever he managed to find it. Besides, Brock had taught him that breeders knew all sorts of things about pokemon and he might know some special hints. Scorch would do well to absorb some knowledge from the rapidash he remembered, and Gale could always touch up on heat wave. If the man even agreed. If Ash could even find him.

Rhyhorn rumbled, pawing at the earth. Ash stopped, grinning as his starter dug slightly before unearthing a wide rock. He swallowed it quickly, rumbling happily. Though Ash didn't exactly have a supply of concrete to carry around as a reward, he had started to pick out which minerals his starter like best.

Though he didn't know their names. He was a trainer, not a mineralogist.

Most of his team was recalled right now, though Gale was still flying overhead to keep an eye out for threats. Ash sometimes caught sight of a bulky shadow on the ground through a break in the trees but the avian was enjoying the wide open skies that only the brilliant sun could provide. The others were resting from their battles, though Ash had had to practically force them into their pokeballs for that to happen.

The peace and quiet he was enjoying didn't last very long. Gale let out a warning cry, though he didn't dive down to attack, and while Ash tensed he didn't release his team. He placed his palm behind Rhyhorn's horn, eyes narrowed. A crackling hiss from some kakuna echoed through the forest but it wasn't close enough to be feared.

There was the sound of pounding, heavy footsteps, the brush rustling as something charged through the leaves. Ash frowned - most pokemon weren't that loud nor obvious - when a kid burst through.

He was dressed in a strange sort of faux garb, a golden helmet over his head and protected by a sort of scarlet chestplate. His hand clutched a dull katana barely worth using, though it was still shined to perfection. Several pokeballs were on his waist.

Ash relaxed. A trainer, however odd he was.

"Are you prepared to face the master of this forest?" The boy said pompously, puffing out his chest. He must have been at least two inches shorter than Ash.

"That's you?" Ash asked. While it wasn't outright said, it was implied that most gyms had to be in towns. But there were still a few that were in smaller places, such as a budding one near Tohjo Falls. It made sense the Viridian Forest, a well-known if not a well-traveled landmark, would have a gym.

He was treated with a scoff. "As if anyone else could be! Now, knave, do you challenge me, the fearless Samurai, or do you wish to scurry off back to Pewter?"

Ash exchanged looks with Rhyhorn, both confused. Samurai? Was he a fighting type trainer? He could hear Gale's wingbeats growing closer and closer, though there wasn't an easy enough break in the leaves to come through.

"Sure. How many?" He said, stepping back. His starter followed him dutifully, using smack down and rock blast to help clear away much of the clumps and rocks covering the path. Ash was thinking about coming up with a combo name for those together.

"One on one! I hardly need more to defeat you." The boy's chest inflated further. Ash was mildly concerned he would explode. "My pokemon will destroy any chance of you leaving this forest under my watchful eye!"

That sounded vaguely like a threat. Eyebrows lowered, he watched as the boy released his pokemon. It was a pinsir, which was rare in these parts, healthy but not overly grown. Baring the strange, horizontal teeth over its gaping mouth, it clicked its pincers and prepared for battle.

Samurai - if that was his real name - seemed to be expecting more awe. When Ash didn't comply with his wishes, he scowled and flapped his hand. "Either release your pokemon or leave my forest!"

Ash had about three pokemon that would end this quickly and another two that would definitely win, but he rather wanted a demoralizing victory after the boy's arrogance. With a glance, his starter lumbered onto the field. Rhyhorn rumbled, shaking his heads. His plates clacked together threateningly.

"Quickly! Seismic toss!" Samurai said, fists clenched. Pinsir warbled and moved forward, bearing down with its enormous pincers. Rhyhorn narrowed his scarlet eyes and waited for the bug to get close enough.

"Horn attack. Fury attack if you need to," Ash said.

Pinsir had just managed to touch Rhyhorn by the time the ground type had attacked him. His powerful horn punched straight through its exoskeleton, releasing a crack almost like breaking bones. Pinsir made a shrieking noise, thrashing, but Rhyhorn managed to lift him into the air. He made a move as if he was just to throw Pinsir off, but Samurai spooked and recalled him quickly.

"How dare you! Your rhyhorn must be using x-drugs! There is no other way it could have beat my pinsir!" Samurai raged, taking a better hold on his katana as if he was about to threaten Ash with it.

"What?" Before he could be answered, he just shook his head and grinned. "Whatever, kid. I won. Move on."

Samurai puffed up in rage like an irate pidgey. "'Kid'? How dare you! I am the master of this forest! The protector! The fighting force that keeps it together-"

He sighed, pushed past him, and walked off. Samurai continued to mutter threats and commands as he stomped back into his hiding place, swinging his katana like he imagined Ash was in its path.

Ash shrugged, faced Rhyhorn, and burst into laughter. He loved the Viridian Forest.

xXx

This time around, the sign for the Diglett Cave was much easier to find. Rhyhorn remembered its location, even though a bush had begun to grow around it. Scorch had carefully burnt away the crawling vines to let others be able to see it, Rhyhorn protecting the surrounding undergrowth from the flames.

He took a moment to check his bag before going in. The food from Nurse Joy was still more than he needed, which meant there was plenty for the tunnel and traveling afterward. Rhyhorn had been able to charge his batteries for his flashlight, though his control was still a work in progress and he had fried one of the rechargeable batteries. Scorch had practiced lighting only the tips of her tails in case he did run out of electricity.

Gale shrieked testily at the yawning maw of the cave, but he had been left behind before and wouldn't accept it this time. The time in Mount Moon had helped him to adjust to walking instead of just flying, which Ash was going to try and use if he was ever grounded in battle.

He grimaced, shouldered his bag, and began the walk inside.

xXx

"Shit," Ash muttered, furiously digging through his bag.

Karma was floating by his side, but barely - her eyes were clouded and unfocused, shine sloppy and unpolished around her neck. The poison coursing through her veins pumped stronger and stronger with every passing second, and Ash couldn't find a damn antidote.

Finally, he found the pale green vial. Tearing open the lid, he rushed over to her side and offered it. She couldn't muster the psychic strength to lift it to her mouth, forcing Ash to pour it in, trying not to miss. Almost instantly, he could see it begin to work, taking a minute burden from her shoulders, but it was clear she was out for the count until he could get to Nurse Joy. He clicked her recall button, placing the cold pokeball on his waist.

"No more fighting arbok for a while," he said, sighing. He couldn't believe the snake had been so fast for a fifteen-foot creature - it had managed to dodge around almost all of her attacks and landed a wicked poison fang into her chest. Her ability synchronize had made it pause as waves of poison-tinted pain swept through its mind, but even then she had been too weakened to harm it. She had nailed it with a psybeam before being poisoning and Wraith had been able to clean up, but that had still been a far too close battle for Ash's liking. "Wraith, you fine?"

The haunter in question rose out from his shadow, form perfectly made. He had only had to reform one of his hands from an attack, the arbok not having the best reach up, and had taken out the following raticate well enough. His energy was barely depleted, but Ash hadn't put him in too many difficult battles.

Recently, Wraith had taken on a different role. For the majority of the time he was out of his pokeball, he was in Ash's shadow, watching for threats. With that, he had been battling the most out of Ash's pokemon, popping out of his shadow ready to go with every bit of eye contact Ash made. That wasn't quite fair to his other pokemon, and Ash had struck a deal with the ghost to make up for that.

Wraith was only allowed to fight five pokemon a day, maximum, and then Ash would cut him off. The haunter had balked at that - he was used to seven or more - but Ash had let him choose which battles he wanted to fight. The arbok and raticate had been his last two for the day, but he had given up consoling for more after being shut down the first ten times.

Karma was out for the fight now, though. Rhyhorn rumbled at the bare speck in the distance Ash knew was the trainer, eyes narrowed.

Ash still hadn't figured out a way to safely practice being poisoned, and every encounter with it just showed him how out of his range he was. Koga was going to be annoying to fight. Even Wraith releasing minute traces of smog into the air while they trained didn't seem to be doing much, judging by Karma's reaction.

He swatted at an offending breeze, prompting an annoyed grunt from the ground type he was riding on. He rolled his eyes, leaning back farther. "Come on. Just a day or two more - you'll be fine for that."

Rhyhorn rumbled again. He hadn't been in too many battles, but had enjoyed walking beside - or beneath - Ash for most of the last two weeks, though he kept spooking whenever Wraith twitched from Ash's shadow. As another pokemon, he could feel it whenever Wraith switched between their two shadows, and from Ash guessed it wasn't exactly pleasant to have a ghost type in your shadow. He couldn't feel anything - his mind was about as closed to the Trio as could be - but other pokemon felt it.

He took a deep breath and leaned back, cracking his back against the spines. Rhyhorn had been going strong and Gale wasn't exactly about to slow down, so Vermillion City was most likely only a day or two away at their pace. That was close enough, and after healing up at the Pokemon Center and maybe visiting Lt. Surge, he'd begin his trek down to Fuschia and fight-

"Hey, Ashy-boy!"

Ash stiffened before a grin broke over his face. _Gary_.

The redheaded boy grinned and waved furiously as Ash urged Rhyhorn toward him. He dismounted quickly, almost catching his ankle in his spines. They both admired each others' starters - the wartortle by Gary's side looked extremely close to evolving, the white tufts over his ears extending far past normal - and hugged.

"Hell Ash, I didn't think I'd actually catch up with you! Leaf told me way back in Cerulean how you'd gone to Vermillion and I didn't know whether I'd catch you. Wait, why are you here? Don't tell me you've been trying to get the badge for this long?"

Ash narrowed his eyes and punched for Gary's shoulder. The boy dodged, laughing, and then they both sprang into a mock fight. Wartortle and Rhyhorn exchanged exasperated looks, sighing.

Gary whined pathetically from an accidental hit Ash landed on his shoulder. He complained so much that Ash made a move to leave the clearing before he gave it up, taking his friend's offered hand to stand fully up.

Both of them knew what was going to happen. Gary knew where a big enough clearing was, only a five or ten minute walk. Ash tapped along his pokeballs as they moved, keeping one hand on Rhyhorn's forehead. Wraith twitched in his shadow but he knew he had already battled five times today, and so settled for wary caution.

They found the clearing fast, walking off the main path. It was wide enough that Ash felt comfortable with letting Gale and Rhyhorn have his free reign, and the earth was already mostly torn free of grass from the last battle that had taken place there. It was even mostly flat, which was a bonus.

"Three on three," Gary offered, touching along his six pokeballs. "My newest member isn't really strong enough for battles and I've been working two others pretty hard. My other three are fine, though - that cool?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah." As much as he wanted Wraith in the fight, it wasn't fair to his other friends. Despite him being one of Ash's strongest pokemon, he wouldn't go back on the rules he had made. Ash trusted him to defend both him and Gary on the trip to Vermillion, no matter how annoyed he was at not fighting in the battle. There was a baritone chuckle in the back of his mind, and he knew that his shadow was twisting.

Gary frowned. "Is that a-"

"Wraith, down," Ash said softly, and his shadow subsided. He knew the haunter was picking out the thought he was thinking as loud as he could - _surprise him later_. Another chuckle, deeper than before, echoed through the stain.

His rival nodded his head. "Okay. Ghost type. No idea where the hell you got one, but questions afterward."

"Questions after," Ash agreed, tapping along his pokeballs. "You want to actually fight me or just keep admiring my pokemon?"

Gary barked out laughing. "You go first," he said, grinning. "Let's see what kind of team you're putting me up against!"

Ash rolled his eyes but obliged. He had won the last battle. It took him a moment before he released his warmest pokeball. Scorch appeared with a loud yip, almost turning toward Ash before she caught sight of Gary and the Wartortle by his side. She growled, tails flicking into her battle ready position.

Gary whistled. "Five tails, huh? Not bad. Let's see how well it does against this!"

With an earthshaking roar, a kangaskhan appeared on the field.

Ash gaped as the nearly seven feet tall behemoth leered down at Scorch, enormous tail twitching. It clicked its dull silver claws together, narrowing its dark red eyes. Though it didn't have a baby in its pouch, Ash knew its protective spirit wouldn't be diminished. Judging by the way it turned toward Gary and tapped him lightly on the shoulder, it had probably taken to seeing Gary as its own child. It grunted lowly across the field as it stared at Scorch.

"How the hell did you get a kangaskhan?"

"Picked her up in the Safari Zone," Gary grinned, reveling in the awe Ash was giving him. Scorch narrowed her eyes, tails twitching as she paced in front of Ash. "Gramps has a few connections with Baoba and he was able to let me get one of the younger members."

"That's _young_?" The pokemon in front of him was fully grown, muscles large and developed, and by the thickness of the dome over its forehead Ash would have guessed ten, maybe fifteen years old instead.

Gary tapped his pokeballs. "You're welcome to give up, if you like."

Scorch shook her head, growling low in her throat. She had won against a crobat - a kangaskhan would be no issue. Her tails flashed with life as she activated flash fire, a surge of warmth hitting the other pokemon. Rhyhorn rumbled encouragingly before moving back to stand behind Ash. He knew better than to disturb his trainer's battles.

"Not good," he muttered before whistling lowly, drawing Scorch's attention. "Your attacks won't do much, so you've got to hit it a bunch to make it count. Hex won't work, burns to the feet will slow it down." She yipped back just as quietly, but he knew she wasn't trying to disguise her response. There wasn't a point. If Kangaskhan could land even a few hits, she would be out.

Both trainers made eye contact and nodded.

"Mega punch!" Gary commanded just as Ash shouted, "Extrasensory!"

Scorch's eyes gleamed blue just as Kangaskhan lumbered toward her, fists glowing a pale white. It stopped only several feet from her, ears twitching before pinning themselves as it stumbled resolutely forward despite the overload of senses. Scorch blurred out of the way with quick attack, circling around to launch a wave of embers toward its back.

Kangaskhan grunted, circling slowly to try and find the vulpix in the wild array of colors filling its vision. But before it could manage, Scorch doubled her power and Kangaskhan staggered, claws going wide. It twitched and groaned in pain, clutching its eyes. Ash was just about to tell Scorch to get close for iron tail to finish it when the glow on its paw abruptly began to darken, shadows thickening despite the strong overhead sun. The blue in Scorch's eyes tried vainly to stay strong but the activation of what had to be dark energy threw any chance it had away.

The normal type threw off the last of its confusion and charged. Scorch tried to dart out of the way, fur igniting again with flame charge as she blitzed backward. Kangaskhan had an infinitely longer reach than she had expected and tagged Scorch's side with sucker punch.

Scorch went flying. She twisted, flailing her tails to try and land upright, a graceless mass of scarlet barely managing to catch itself on the ground. A trickle of blood from Kangaskhan's claws ran down her fur, dripping onto the ground. Ash grimaced and tried a different approach. "Roar, light show, will-o-wisp!"

Kangaskhan bellowed to try and drown out Scorch's powerful shriek, only to stagger back once the bright light hit its eyes. Scorch launched two will-o-wisps, the blue flames exploding against its chest.

The flames barely burned anything past its fur. Kangaskhan shrugged it off, dowsing the flames with a thump of its wide paw. "Mega punch."

Scorch reignited her fur, using the boost of flame charge to start to run around Kangaskhan. The normal type merely snorted, cocking back both of its fists. They glowed softly as it scanned the field in front of it for Scorch, who didn't seem to know what to do. Ash tried another command.

"Keep up quick charge, hit it from behind!"

Kangaskhan was struck twice, roaring in pain as it tried to swipe at the fire type. Scorch nimbly bobbed and weaved around the hits but they were getting closer - Kangaskhan had speed a pokemon its size shouldn't.

It finally managed to hit her. Its punch hit her side and threw her nearly a dozen feet, tails thrashing as she tried to stand. Scorch managed to rise to her feet, legs shaking and parts of her fur shining wetly. But her flash fire still crackled menacingly even as she limped away from her seven foot tall opponent, ears flat against her skull.

Gary grinned. "You've got some good moves, but I think you need a little more umph, Ash. Let me show you how it's done: storm break!"

Ash could almost swear Kangaskhan smirked.

It roared, raising its left hand. Electricity began to crackle around it, sparking off of the black dome on its forehead, some sort of mix of thunder punch and thunderbolt. The sparks ran over its brown fur, giving it an almost ethereal image as it poured more and more electricity into the air. Its other hand began to flash on and off with a reddish aura. He could almost swear its claws began to extend with what Ash guessed was fighting energy surrounded its entire arm. With a bellow of excitement, it slammed the focus blast into the ground.

The earth buckled beneath the hit, spiking upward almost like an earth power. Dirt and rocks flew outward, wrenched free from the its earthen prison to explode heedlessly into the air. Dust choked the air, thick and roiling. Kangaskhan made a pleased grunt before slamming its second paw into the earth.

The electricity immediately burst down, jumping from the minute iron deposits buried beneath the layer of dirt. Through every crack in the earth, through every iron vein, through every hole, electricity crackled before exploded upward in a shriek of rage. Scorch, who had only just barely managed to avoid the bursting earth by jumping roughly with quick attack, was struck by over a dozen bolts of lightning. She collapsed instantly.

Kangaskhan rumbled, a pleased expression on its face as it looked around at the destruction it had caused. There was a sag in its shoulders and a bleeding gash on its fist from where it had hit the earth, but it didn't seem too worse for wear.

That had been one of the most impressive things he had ever seen in a battle. "Wow," he said quietly. How had Gary managed to teach a _normal_ type moves like that? The sheer cost of a focus blast TM was incredible, and learning so many electric moves without the help of lightning rod or a secondary typing was beyond difficult.

Gary grinned back rather smugly. "Wow indeed, Ashy-boy."

Ash recalled Scorch even as she struggled to try and stand. Electricity crackled off of her form like a living thing and every movement she made was with locked muscles and spastic twitches. She looked up just before dissolving into a cloud of scarlet mist and gave a halfhearted whine to stay in, but it was clear. Scorch had been out of her league there.

Holding back his disappointment at himself, he settled for raising his eyebrow at Gary. "'Storm break', really? A bit pretentious, even for you."

"I think Kangaskhan warrants that," he said, sniffing with a faux upturned nose. Ash snorted and raised his next pokeball. Karma would probably make mincemeat of such a stationary fighter but she wouldn't be in these battles with the still active poison in her veins. His next pokemon would be plenty strong enough.

Gale shrieked as he was released, taking to the heavens with one sweep of his powerful wings. Kangaskhan eyed him warily, claws tucked to its chest. Gary whistled softly, only serving to boost Gale's ego even further.

"That's a pretty impressive fearow you've got there," he complemented, nodding. Pride unfolded in Ash's chest as Gale gave an answering shriek, but he wouldn't make the same mistake of just assuming Gary was about pure power.

"Don't underestimate it," he called up. "It already took out Scorch, but it mainly stays in one place and goes physical. It could have thunderbolt, so be prepared to dodge. Stay high and get in when you know you can get out." A tried and true method.

Gary grinned and raised his gaze upward, grimacing as the sun got in his eyes. "Kangaskhan! Fry it!"

Its head dome began to flicker once again with electricity, although not nearly to the amount it had before. With a bellow, it released the energy in the form of a jagged streak of lightning that rose the hairs on the back of Ash's neck.

Gale gave a mocking chirp as he tucked his wings in and dove to avoid it. Flattening out, he corkscrewed around another hastily launched thunderbolt and slammed into its shoulder with his beak glowing.

It bellowed in pain and Gale made a jerk to move away but not fast enough - it cocked back its fist and slammed it without move or energy into his side. He was immediately flung backward, scarlet tipped beak flashing. It started toward him, but he shoved away the shock and took back to the sky, though this time without a victorious shriek.

Kangaskhan felt its shoulder gently, claws coming away smeared. Its scarlet eyes flashed with anger at that rather deep wound, tail thumping against the ground hard enough to release a cloud of dust.

"Thunderbolt again, then sucker punch when it's grounded."

Ash grinned. He knew this strategy - too many trainers tried it against Gale. Gary would soon find out just why that wouldn't work against the fearow. "Gale! Pin and flurry, don't get close unless you want to."

Gale shrieked. Kangaskhan rumbled in response, head dome flashing. It was noticeably weaker - TMs didn't enhance pokemon's natural electricity capacity, and the normal type would need time to recharge if it was going to keep firing thunderbolts. But it didn't give up, bellowing alongside the clap of the lightning.

It was closer this time, nearly clipping several of Gale's primaries. He squawked annoyedly, wings gleaming a bright blue as razor wind took over.

Kangaskhan roared in pain as it was abruptly thrown backward, only its tail managing to keep it standing. Gale merely clacked his beak and redoubled his efforts, the energy brightening and growing in strength. Too much training time with Rhyhorn wouldn't let him lose to something with its center of gravity nearly five feet off of the ground.

Gale abruptly cut off the attack and swooped to the side, blasting a more powerful razor wind at its side. Kangaskhan, without its tail to support it, bellowed and jerked a wild fist in his direction, helpless even as it charged a third thunderbolt.

The fearow shrieked with pride as Kangaskhan toppled, wings beating more powerfully as Ash could feel the air warm. It began with a single spark, a flash of smoke, before ribbons of flames poured from his feathers and joined the razor wind.

Kangaskhan roared as the heat wave struck its chest, singeing its fur and releasing a plume of smoke into the air. It thrashed, slamming its tail against the ground as it fought to stand up. Its head plate began to spark, so intensely that it lit the normal pokemon in a glow of hazy yellow. Ash narrowed his eyes. "Flurry, end this!"

Gale cut off pin, wings flapping once to gain him a bit of altitude before tucking close to his side. With a predatory growl, beak shining the fierce shade of aerial ace and wings glowing silver, he fell.

Kangaskhan never stood a chance. Viper's tauros, a drugged Team Rocket pokemon, had gone done to Gale's beak and now that same weapon was enhanced with two moves. He slammed into Kangaskhan's chest, puncturing the thick fat, only a moment before two steel wings cut into its shoulders.

Gary clicked the recall, sending Gale stumbling awkwardly as his perch disappeared from beneath him. The fearow clacked his beak, tossing his head and smoothing down his crest. It was impossible to ignore the gleam of pride in his eyes, and it was well earned - kangaskhan were powerful, if stationary, pokemon.

"Not bad," Gary said, nodding his head. "Your vulpix needs work but that fearow knows what it's doing - but I noticed it wasn't too fast. I think I have a combat for that."

A shriek, eerily similar to Gale's own call, split the air. Two wide tan wings and a bright red crest, scarlet and cream tail feathers streaming behind. Talons scrapped the ground as the pokemon took to several feet above the earth, black eyes bright.

Ash could practically _feel_ Gale's glare. The fearow spread his own wings, crest fully extending back up and beak glimmering. He released a grating scream that tore at Ash's ears like grinding metal.

Gary laughed. "Ah, the famed rivalry. According to the general idea of evolution, your fearow should beat my pidgeotto, but some part of me doubts that. Your training seems to be lacking in one specific area." He stared up at Pidgeotto, who chirped back. They both swung their gaze toward Gale.

"Give it a taste of a _real_ flying type's speed," Gary called, grinning. Pidgeotto squawked fiercely, crest flashing in the sun. With nary a flash of light, it took to the skies and disappeared.

"Fly!" Ash shouted, jerking his fearow into attention. Spreading his wings, Gale took off, managing to get only ten feet off the ground before a cream blur slammed him down into the earth.

Pidgeotto let loose a mocking shriek, slowing just enough so that Ash could see it circling overhead, feathers ruffling in a soft wind.

"That's just agility," Gary shouted over the field. "Not even tailwind nor quick attack. Let's see how well you can manage with just that!"

Gale dragged his wings back up, feathers twisted from the brutal wing attack he had been hit with. With a shriek, he took back to the skies, gaining altitude as quickly as he could. Pidgeotto circled overhead, staying two dozen feet away at all times. Fearow were known for their vicious attacks, but they had to get close for them to work. It wasn't going to let him.

Pidgeotto dove at Gary's muffled command, wings shining. A weak gust thrown Gale off balance and two more wing attacks slammed into his back, though they thankfully missed his wings. He managed to jerk his head upward and jab his beak at Pidgeotto's head, stabbing lightly into its chest before they broke apart and regained positions.

Ash cursed. Gale was outclassed here - he was too slow for another flying type and built for close range fighting instead of long - but he wasn't just going to let Gary knock out another of his pokemon. "Heat wave, try and burn it!"

Embers drifted away from Gale's wings, popping and snapping in the wind as he started to fly in quick circles around the clearing. A glittering stream of scarlet followed his path, fading once he left but warming the air to uncomfortable standards. Pidgeotto squawked, annoyed, and started to bob and weave through the flames, focusing on dodging. Gale saw the opportunity and took it.

A steel wing sliced through Pidgeotto's primaries, cutting off their edges like warm butter. It shrieked, flying upward and through a patch of fading fire. Smoke trailed from its crest, but Gary was grinning - he had a plan. "Twister!"

Ash paled.

Pidgeotto took higher and higher to the skies, going well above the remaining heat wave. Its wings rose, almost crowning the sun, before launching a blast of wind that circled around itself to form a tornado. Dust ripped itself up from the ground, wailing as it turned the cyclone a murky brown. The last remnants from the heat wave was swallowed whole by the unstoppable dragon attack. Ash coughed and jerked a sleeve over his mouth, eyes watering as he stared at the battle.

This was it, their chance to win. Ash waited another second to let the already devastating attack gain strength, Gale shrieking as if he could stop the twister through the sheer force of his voice, before shouting, "Mirror move!"

This time, Gary whitened. "Dodge!"

Gale began to furiously beat his wings, slamming them against the sky as wind kicked up around him. Slowly, the funnel began to form, a horizontal tunnel of screaming air that hit the twister right in the middle. The tornado slowed, almost pausing, before beginning to move in the opposite direction.

Pidgeotto immediately blurred into agility, form almost disappearing as it shot upward. The twister reached for it, winds screaming a challenge, but it was too fast - all the tornado managed to do was to ruffle the avian's feathers.

The cyclone died down, target lost. Gary laughed, eyes closed and hand on his chest. "Alright, you had me worried there. Guess that won't work - Pidgeotto! Fast wing!"

Gale shrieked, still desperately pumping his wings as he tried to follow his sworn enemy up. Pidgeotto squawked pridefully, barely a blip in the wide sky, before beginning to soar downward. Its feathers glowed with agility as it flew, wings spreading for wing attack. Gale wasn't going to accept that.

The fearow waited until the last second before jerking backward, exposing his talons. Pidgeotto slammed its wings into his chest, ripping through the feathers and exposing torn flesh, but Gale reared past the pain and slammed his talons on the joints of its wings.

Both Gary and Ash jerked. Pidgeotto couldn't fly, wings pinned, and there was no chance an injured Gale could support them both. The fearow gave one last vicious shriek before they both began to plummet, twisting as they fell through the sky like twin dying stars. Pidgeotto worked to stretch its wings, trying to use them as parachutes to slow them down, but Gale's talons kept them firmly pinned outward, his own being thrown around and buffeted. Incredibly, he began to thrum with the glow of aerial ace, increasing their speed even more.

They landed on the ground with a _crunch_. Gale gave a high shriek of pain, one wing collapsing awkwardly on the ground and twisted in the wrong angle. Pidgeotto was merely knocked out, having been above Gale when they fell, but it was clear it wasn't going to get back up.

Ash recalled the thrashing Gale. The pokeball in his palm twitched for only a second before going cold, the stasis knocking him out fully past the pain. Gary followed suit, reattaching the pokeball with raised eyebrows.

"Your fearow has some pride, doesn't it?"

Ash scoffed past his worry. "That's one way to describe it. He hasn't done anything like this before, though." Gale really hadn't. At most, he had begrudgingly accepted help from Scorch - whom he seemed to like the best out of the team - in order to defeat a powerful member of the pidgey line, but now he had injured himself far beyond the norm to defeat one. Ash could only imagine what that fall had done to his far more fragile bones - at least Pidgeotto had been spared the brunt of it.

Both trainers made eye contact. "One left," Ash said.

Wartortle playfully snapped his jaws, his almost beak-like mouth creating a hard sound. Gary grinned and pointed at the field. The water type marched forward, pounding his fists together with a low grunt.

With a rumbling roar, Rhyhorn lumbered out onto the field. He avoided the slight crater Gale and Pidgeotto had left, raising his horn up and glaring at Wartortle.

"They remember each other." Gary grinned, shifting his weight between his feet.

The last time these two had battled, Rhyhorn had had only one move and Wartortle could do little else than tackle. It had been heavily in Ash's favor then, despite the typing, as the small water type could do next to nothing to damage his starter.

Wartortle didn't look nearly so small now. Nearly three and some change feet tall, he was proud and bulky. The ear-like fins on the side of his face twitched constantly, blue tail swishing as he stomped on the ground. Rhyhorn rumbled back, age-old instincts against water types rising to the forefront.

"It'll hit you hard with water," Ash said quietly. "You need to get close and keep it there - blast it then go in. It might have a few close range attacks but your bulk should carry you through."

Gary finished his own pep talk and focused back on the battle. After a moment or two, Ash took the first move.

"Shock wave!" Ash barked.

Gary jerked. "Damnit - iron defense and withdraw!"

Wartortle flashed silver, popping his limbs and head effortlessly into his shell and falling to the ground. Ash could see his stubby claws and tail keeping the shell from falling over, but Rhyhorn's powerful blast of electricity shook threw him on his side.

The shock wave only lightly touched the water type, frying along the tip of his tail before he popped back out of his shell. In the time he took, Rhyhorn was already charging, horn poised.

He slammed against his shell hard enough for a wave of energy to hit the clearing. Wartortle grunted in pain, sliding back a few feet, but he righted himself quickly and charged forward with eyes narrowed.

"Aqua tail!"

Wartortle grunted, his damp skin beginning to weep moisture. The water gathered by his tail, extending it nearly a foot with the thick covering of swirling blue. He grunted proudly at the difficult move as he started his spin. Rhyhorn was given a moment's chance to either backpedal or take it - he chose to use the time to slam his front claws into the earth.

Earth power reached Wartortle a second too late - aqua tail nailed him on his side, the water instantly cutting through his thick plates and ripping into his skin. He bellowed with pain, almost falling on his side before he managed to catch himself.

Wartortle was thrown nearly four feet upward, limbs flailing as he tried to catch himself. There was a grunt as he tried to withdraw but didn't manage it in time, his legs being caught under his shell as he fell. He grumbled at the pain but jumped back to attention, narrowing his eyes as Rhyhorn righted himself.

"Spite attack!"

"Double team!"

Rhyhorn bellowed, gathering shadows, only to rear back. Half a dozen Wartortles roared challengingly, pounding their fists together. Each had slightly fuzzy images, not perfect, but they were worryingly close. Rhyhorn let the spite writhe in the back of his throat, staring confusedly at the six pokemon surrounding him.

Ash hadn't fought double team before, and it was beyond irritating. Rhyhorn looked warily around as the six Wartortles began to slowly circle him, charging water in their throats. Whatever move they were charging, it was going to be powerful.

Rhyhorn wasn't a psychic, so he couldn't tell which one he was just by their brain, but he could feel his weight. Shock wave wouldn't work until he found Wartortle - he wasn't advanced enough to lock it onto pokemon's heat signature. "Feel him out, and shock wave!"

Gary narrowed his eyes. "Water pulse, launch it!"

The ground typed stomped once, sending a ripple over the earth in the weakest form of earth power he could muster. It passed cleanly through five of the pokemon but jerked against the stubby legs of the sixth - Rhyhorn turned and released a ray of lightning from his horn.

Wartortle withdrew well before it reached him, the other illusions fading away as he concentrated. Rhyhorn roared, charging forward with his horn glowing even as he shook the earth beneath him. Wartortle popped out, jerked his head downward, and released a throbbing ball of water.

It hit the ground and exploded. Water slammed into Rhyhorn and immediately threw him onto his back. He writhed, silver claws flashing as he desperately tried to right him. Ash cursed - Rhyhorn was as immobile as a magikarp on dry land when he was flipped. "Widespread!"

Rock and dirt wrenched themselves up from the earth, trembling in midair as Rhyhorn tried to calm his frazzled nerves well enough to control them. He managed to get a hold over himself and launch them in a wide circle, hitting Wartortle squarely on his head. He squeaked, brushing away the dirt covering his eyes and temporarily stopping his attack.

"Come on, Rhyhorn!" Ash shouted, breaking his composure. If he could just flip himself over-

Gary shook his head. "Wartortle, water pulse. Finish it."

Another ball of water exploded against Rhyhorn's side just as he managed to roll over. He bellowed in pain, trembling as his skin was shredded by the water attack. Ash could see thick pebbles of blood emerging from between his plates, staining the water scarlet.

And then his eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed.

Ash closed his eyes. His thumb found the recall button without needing to see it, the scarlet light hitting him through his eyelids as the slumped figure of Rhyhorn was recalled back into the safety of his pokeball.

Gary cheered, pumping a fist. "Yes!" There was a pause where he celebrated, but it was only a moment - after that he came over the slightly fried battlefield to clap Ash's shoulder.

"Hey," he said warmly. "Don't worry about it. Your team is going to be badass - it's just not fully developed yet. I've trained my team to handle any attacks thrown at them - when they evolve, they're going to be tanks that deal out big damage. Your team is more aimed at the sneaky side of things - focus on tricks and traps, really. Poisoning would always be good - you seem to be geared toward kind of residual damage type, right? Although that rhyhorn of yours is going to be more suited to my style of training." He smiled, and it broke past the quiet anger Ash was feeling. "No hard feelings."

Ash smacked his shoulder. "Of course not, you twat. We're one to one now anyway - don't think I'm going to let you win next time!"

They were, at the heart of things, best friends since birth. No fight, no loss nor win, would change that. Ash and Gary called each other a few names, mocked their dirty appearances, and congratulated their captures. The last time they had seen each other had been in Pallet.

Both agreed to walk each other back to Vermillion. Gary had just challenged the lieutenant and won, but was training up a bit before going for Sabrina. Ash was going to be smug about having more badges but Gary had already gotten the Soul Badge when he caught Kangaskhan- had bummed a ride off of his grandfather's alakazam when he had been called for his monthly check-up of his Wartortle. Being such rare pokemon as he was, Professor Oak often checked up on his health and growth, recording it for his studies. The man was well known for calling in other trainers he sponsored to collect notes on their pokemon as well, and Ash knew it would one day come for him as well if he captured a suitably rare pokemon. None of the ones he had now would qualify as that, although Scorch and the Trio pokemon were close-ish. Professor Oak's psychic type was known to be powerful enough to teleport to Sinnoh if needed, though she couldn't make the return trip without a fair bit of rest.

Maybe he could get the man to teleport him to his next gym as well. He wanted to wait until Karma really knew what she was doing before he let her teleport him around the region.

Vermillion was a breath of fresh air, the salty sea not as overpowering as Celadon's scent but more present than other cities. It gave it a memorable touch, something gentle that instantly brought him back to the other two times he had been here. He could feel his shadow peek up in interest, Wraith no doubt recognizing the same city he had been forcibly brought to.

Ash had thought about this, and was ready to bring Karma out if he needed to calm the ghost down. But Wraith seemed only cautiously angry, sending pieces of his shadow to spike upward in mockeries of the haunter's own poisonous spines. Gary looked curiously upon him, but Ash had given a very brief explanation of Wraith's history and the trainer had accepted it. Not every pokemon was from quiet pasts.

Gary yawned, folding his arms above his head. Wartortle grunted, poking his side. The trainer swatted him on the shell, prompting another annoyed grunt and a spray of mist. Gary yelped.

Ash snickered, only for Wartortle to douse him in a blast of water as well. They both entered Vermillion with dripping hair. Scorch avoided the same fate by snarling at Wartortle when he gave her a curious glance with gleaming eyes.

Nurse Joy actually remembered Ash, but barely. Rhyhorn had to be put in a heated tank to regain his proper body temperature as they healed below his plates, Scorch had to be injected with high level potions, and Karma had to be pumped full of antidotes, but Gale wasn't nearly as bad as Ash would have thought.

It seemed Erika's gift of iron nutrients had done more than he would have ever thought - Gale's wing was only fractured in two spots, which would take a day or two max to heal up in the Pokemon Center. He would be stuck to light battling for a week or so after, but it wasn't the worst. Gale would be pleased, anyway.

For Gary's team, only Kangaskhan needed a lot of intense healing - Gale had managed to do a number on her. Nurse Joy accepted them, smiling, and then sent them off. Gary had asked for accelerated healing, with a less thorough job.

Ash guessed what that meant.

xXx

Ash roared with laughter hard enough to get several of the other patrons in the restaurant to look over. "He did _what_?"

"You should have seen it!" Gary grinned. "So there's my little squirtle, trying to hit Pidgeotto, right? You know Pidgeotto - he's a beast who hits hard and can shrug off most everything. Squirtle's water guns were barely dampening his feathers, 'cause they lost a lot of their intensity since Pidgeotto was so high up. And he keeps mocking him!"

Gary spoke louder to power through Ash's peals of laughter. "This little baby starter is practically out of water in his reserves but he doesn't give up because Pidgeotto started running through my acrobatic trainings instead of focusing on dodging Squirtle's water guns. He's getting so upset I'm thinking of sending Magnemite to calm him down when he fucking _evolves_ and snips Pidgeotto right out of the sky!"

They were both cackling loud enough that their waiter came over to ask them to quiet down. They did so, but Ash had to keep a hand over his mouth to contain his sporadic giggles. And he had thought how Gale evolved was cool. That must have been hilarious to see.

Gary grimaced, popping his back against the wooden chair. They had traveled fast to get here to heal up their pokemon and it hadn't been nice on either one of them. Ash was only slightly better, having cheated on Rhyhorn before he had run into Gary.

He polished off the smoothie he had ordered - the restaurant knew their way around berries, that much was sure - and set down the glass. Gary was still finishing his sandwich and they sat there in comfortable silence, hearing the distant sound of crashing waves. Both of them had wanted to rent a ship to explore the bay, but waves had recently been extremely intense and inexperienced sailors weren't allowed out, no matter the clout being Professor Oak's grandson brought.

After maybe five minutes of quiet, Ash made eye contact. "You're leaving, aren't you?"

Gary sighed and set down his drink. "Yeah. Sabrina ain't going to challenge herself and I'm going to be facing her real team. My team needs a lot more work and I need to get them going on it - any tips?"

"She's not mean, I guess," Ash offered, thinking back. "She gives you a fair match but she's just very powerful. My best guess is that you should have at least some way for your pokemon to shake off psychic influences, even if it's just barely. A dark move is great but you might not have time. Honestly, just try to prepare them to fight psychics. You're going to try and fight the wandering drowzee around Vermillion, right?"

He nodded. "My only chance. I've only fought a few golduck and hypno and they weren't easy battles. I'm giving myself another week on the road before I try but I need to get started." Gary grinned. "You're wasting my daylight, Ashy-boy."

Ash reached across the table and shoved his shoulder. "You have any tips for me about Koga?"

"Oh yeah, him." Gary winced. "He sucks to fight, I'll give it to you straight. His pokemon aren't the strongest, so my team could mostly stand up to him pretty easy, but he loves to poison and trap you. Seriously, any possible way for his pokemon to get their poison out there and he'll somehow use it. Once you get close, though, he doesn't have too many defenses."

"Same for Sabrina," Ash said. "Though she does have teleport."

Gary groaned. "I've heard stories - annoying as hell. For a team that's built to just hit hard a few times, that can really exhaust them. Maybe I'll just skip her - if that stupid Samurai kid in the Viridian Forest can ever get his stupid hands on a stupid badge, I can claim that."

"You met him too, huh. Did you beat him?"

Gary rolled his eyes but grinned. "' _Course_ I did. Kid was about as strong as a damp paper bag - but he's making enough clamour in the right circles that he might be made into a real gym - no matter how sucky he is." His grin widened. "Did he do the whole 'if I beat you, you have to leave my forest' thing to you to?"

Ash groaned and set his head into his arms. "And his pinsir barely put up a _fight_ … I see what you mean about just nabbing the badge from him."

"I've got back up plans for the other difficult gyms, too. I'm going to try Blaine and Giovanni, but if I can't get them on the first or second try, I'm not going to potentially not make it to the League if I can't win their badges. There's a budding flying gym near Celadon and a well established normal gym that's been around for a couple decades. They both don't have nearly the reputation of the big three - Sabrina, Blaine, and Giovanni."

"When you go to Cinnabar, send me a message," Ash offered. "Maybe we can fight again. I won't lose, either."

Gary grinned and promised to. Ash paid the check - he _had_ lost the battle, after all - and walked his friend back to the Pokemon Center. Nurse Joy was a bit iffy about handing Kangaskhan over and made him promise not to battle with her for maybe a week with the normal type. The rest of his pokemon should probably only lightly train as well.

Ash stood on the edge of Vermillion and waved goodbye as his friend disappeared into the distance, Wartortle trodding quietly by his side. He stayed there for a while after, watching the sky.

xXx

Ash grinned, reading over the entire note page Gary had written out for him while ordering food in the restaurant. Pidgeotto's aerial training methods were going to whip Gale into better shape and he was planning on adding a hint of Kangaskhan' training to supplement Rhyhorn's own methods.

Gary had been a bit of a wake up call, but he'd much rather have it be Gary than any other trainer. While they were rivals, they also didn't want to throw each other down.

At least until it came to the Conference. Ash _refused_ to lose there.

Gale had been released to him in two days, which wasn't too long, but the fearow was an odd mixture of being proud he took down the pidgeotto but also upset he couldn't stand conscious long enough to gloat. When Ash released him, he stumbled over to one corner of the Pokemon Center room and perched on the back of a chair, head tucked beneath his wings. It had taken Ash two more days to get him to eat properly, but he had purchased another supply of iron to give to him. That had probably been the only reason his wing wasn't broken.

He walked through the city, enjoying the atmosphere. Few people were out, though it was the afternoon, but the city was alive enough to hum with the whisper of voices and stomp of footsteps. If he remembered right, the gym should be only a fifteen minute walk from the Pokemon Center.

"Vermillion City," a voice boomed.

Ash jerked, bag almost flying off of his shoulders. He turned quickly but saw no one - at least until he saw the speakers clicking to life underneath the lamp posts. They were tiny, almost impossible to see, but now that he knew where they were he could see them easily. It crackled again before beginning to speak in a familiar female face.

"All civilians must evacuate to your closest shelter, Code 9-A. I repeat, all civilians must follow Code 9-A. All trainers with more than two pokemon must report to the southern shore as soon as possible. I repeat, all trainers to the southern shore."

"At this moment, a large amount of water types are coming from the sea. Vermillion City will be attacked in less than thirty minutes, repeat, less than thirty minutes. Experienced trainers report to the Harbor while others spread evenly near the shore. I repeat, experienced trainers to the Harbor."

Ash could feel the shiver creep down his spine as the words sunk in. Something was coming toward Vermillion City, big enough that Officer Jenny was calling in all trainers. He knew it happened occasionally, moreso by seaside cities where traveling pods of pokemon could come near shore in their migrations, and he knew that Vermillion employed trainers to chase them back to sea.

He had just never been a part of that before.

All of his pokemon were healed. He straightened his hat, twisting the cap around to block the glaring sun. Vermillion City needed trainers - maybe not him, but the extra power he could add behind his step would be helpful nonetheless. He made a move to start toward the southwestern shore before jerking to a stop. Ash had five badges.

In the eyes of the League, he was now an experienced trainer.

Swallowing a breath of air down his dry throat, he moved toward the Harbor. On the edge of the horizon, water thrashed and howled its fury at the fierce sun above, clouds vainly trying to protect the sea from its wrath but only managing to make the water angrier. As he grew closer, it only became louder - the rocks that protected the town rattled in their sockets from the force of the waves.

He jumped almost thirty feet in the air as something touched his feet. Glancing down, he could see a layer water creeping along the stone streets, only a centimeter or two tall. The tide wasn't just rising - it was being brought it. He increased his walk to a run.

The shore came into sight quickly. A wide beach extended out in front of him, lifeguard posts every hundred yards or so and several large umbrellas dotting the surfaced like wild flowers. Fishing docks stretched out as fingers against the wild surf, only visible for seconds before being swallowed by spray. Waves pounded against the stone, several streams escaping upward into the town. On either side, the thick stone walls that made up the protection of Vermillion shot sprays of mist nearly fifteen feet up.

But farther out, in the curves of waves, in the rising crash of mist, in the white-caps slamming toward shore, there were pokemon.

Dozens of them.

It couldn't be a pod - he could see every shade of water type, many from Kanto but far more exotic ones mixed up in the writhing mass. Green and blue and silver and white and tan and navy all swirling together in an impossible pool of colors.

He had run before. Not this time.

Ash released Rhyhorn. The ground type rumbled annoyedly at the sand that sunk several inches beneath his bulk, but immediately stiffened as he beheld the scene before him in the waves. He took the comfort of seeing his starter, seeing his friend bristle his spines and prepare for battle no matter how daring the prospects seemed.

The rest of his team joined him on the sand. Together, they quietly took in what was quickly approaching. Ash could see movement from the corner of his eye - another trainer taking position on the shore, stationed a good distance from him - but didn't pull his gaze from the sea.

"There's a lot of pokemon coming for Vermillion, and we have to stop them," he said quietly. "We're going to keep them from pushing on this side, but only focus on here. There are other trainers too, and we don't have the strength to fight them all. Don't try." His voice was raw. "We aren't strong enough."

"Gale and Wraith, you're the only two that can get close. I need you to fly overhead and stick to close range when you can - most water types don't have too many close attacks. If it's bigger than a seadra, you don't get anywhere near them. Shadow ball and aerial ace."

He turned to his next friend. Karma floated higher on her psionic bubble to meet his gaze head on, shine in its active form. "I need you to run interference. Use flash, box, psybeam, and then teleport away when you need to. Is there any chance you could teleport one of us?"

Karma narrowed her eyes, ears flicking. _Yes. Early_ _on. Energy_.

Scorch yipped, five tails curled above her head. "You can't get close. Stay close to the shore and hit them with everything you've got - aim for the eyes and mouth. Extrasensory if they get too close - run away."

She yipped at him, but he could see the worry in her grey eyes. The loss against the kangaskhan had weakened her self confidence and now he was pitting her against an army of water types. He knelt next to her, scratching behind the back of her ears as she leaned into his touch. "You've got this, Scorch. I believe in you."

He turned toward his first pokemon, who stared up at him with a quiet scarlet gaze.

"Rhyhorn, you're at the biggest disadvantage here, but you've got our best weapon. Use shock wave at every chance until you're depleted, then rock blast. If they ever get near land, nail them with earth power. Please bud, stay safe."

A piercing shriek rose over the ocean, some distant part of Ash's mind registering it as seadra. Rhyhorn snapped to attention, rumbling his own commands to the team. Karma's eyes flashed blue, Wraith hissing at the psychic energy as his ectoplasmic skin thickened, hands emerging to orbit his body. Gale spread his wings. "Let's go."

Cries of affirmation answered him. Scorch blurred away with quick attack, flash fire searing against the seaside humidity. Karma raised her shine, glowing almost as bright as her eyes, and disappeared. Wraith and Gale barely glanced at each other, pushing off the ground and taking to the sky. Ash and Rhyhorn made eye contact, scarlet and brown. Electricity crackled off of his horn as he turned and charged.

A hundred yards away, a seadra rose its spiked head above the crashing wave. It spat a burst of water toward shore, reddish eyes shining with confused rage. Before it even got close to the sand, a wall of wind slammed into it and forced it back into the harbor, a resounding splash of water erupting upward. The seadra shrieked. Gale answered it, wings shining as he tucked them in and pulled into a tight loop before diving. His beak and talons slammed right past its scales, throwing it downward. It didn't resurface.

Towards Ash's left, a dark blob surfaced from beneath the surf. The red omastar-like pokemon flexed its tentacles, snout releasing a spray of mist as it flicked its dark gaze around. Karma flashed before it with teleport and jerked her paw forward, clutching her shine. It groaned at her. Its tentacles thrashed against the water, like blood against the blue. It reared its head back and fired a thick stream of inky water, almost like a shadow in liquid form

A gleaming barrier erupted in front of the shore. The murky water slammed into it, exploding but barely managing to even bend it. It groaned in rage, firing another blast of water. Karma teleported out of the way, an almost mocking hum filling the air as she raised her shine. The pokemon was surrounded with a blue glue, groaning in panic as it was raised into the air and flung nearly a hundred yards back. Its scarlet form sunk beneath the waves.

On the beach, Scorch barked defiantly as an angular head poked up near the shore, having successfully disguised itself from Ash's other pokemon with its thin blue feathers. The golduck quacked darkly, reaching out with a clawed grip. She whirled around, blocking the attack with three of her iron tails, using the other two to nail it across the beak. It squawked again, this time angrily, and reared back with a blast of water.

She blurred out of the way of most of it, yipping as the splash nailed her across the chest. The golduck used her distraction to spin around with aqua tail, slamming against her side. Scorch gave a low, keening bark as she was flung, dripping, and retaliated with a barrage of embers. They flew true and hit its eyes. It screamed in pain, thrashing, and Scorch shut it up with a vicious hex that immediately burst to life in writhing ghostly flames. The golduck reached out with its webbed hands, but the hex was too much and it passed out.

In the air, Wraith cackled, bobbing around a thrashing tentacruel. It reached upward, blue tentacles extending as it absorbed water to supplement their instant growth, hissing. The haunter separated his hands away from his body, letting a blast of acid harmlessly fly past. He brought his two hands together, opening his fanged maw as well as he let out a low, shrieking howl that echoed across the Harbor. Three shadow balls flashed with grey lightning, charged in his hands and mouth, but he only launched two toward the poison type. It slumped toward, red orbs going dim as the other streaked over the waves to blast a seadra about to sneak up on a distracted Karma. Neither looked at each other, but Ash knew Karma had said her thanks telepathically. Their relationship, while rocky, was improving.

Back on the beach. Rhyhorn rumbled, stomping against the sand as a small pod of tentacool swam closer. They twitched above the water every now and then, the red orb embedded in their forehead flashing, but they always retreated beneath the safety of the waves. Unfortunately for them, Rhyhorn's wait wasn't for them to come out of the water, but for their range.

As soon as they came close enough, he released the blast of electricity he had been hiding in his horn. It streaked through the air in a jagged blast that left sparks behind and slammed into the water. Muffled groans echoed through water, a few weaker tentacool descending into the depths. Several others rose fully from the water, beginning to release pulses of water, eyes wide. Rhyhorn barely spared them a moment of thought, releasing another enormous shock wave that blasted the rest of them back. The ground type sagged, most of his stores depleted in those two attacks, but he dutifully returned to his wary pacing against the shore.

A deafening roar echoed across the bay. Ash paled, reaching desperately for the stain in the back of his mind, shouting commands as clearly as he could. Karma jerked, psychic energy touching him before her ears flattened. She understood the threat.

With a roar that shook the sand beneath Ash's feet, a gyarados erupted from beneath the sea. It shook its gleaming coat of blue scales, barbels twitching as it homed in on the pokemon near it.

Ash bolted. His pokemon could work without him - he couldn't help them when he was too focused on escaping the damn _gyarados_ near the shore. When he finally turned back around, he was completely off the Harbor and nearly halfway to Vermillion.

Rhyhorn, despite the gleam in his eyes Ash could see from here, stayed back. He began to gather electricity but didn't fire it - he'd only have one chance. Gale instead took over, giving a fierce squawk to alert Wraith to the strange shark-like pokemon he had been dealing with before taking off toward the gyarados. It spun to face him, fangs gleaming. Gale was barely a third of its size. He shrieked his own warning, pulling into quick circles over the water type. It eyed him furiously, trying to find an opening to attack.

It found one. Head lowered, it spat out a throbbing ball of water that exploded the instant it touched Gale's tail. He shrieked, knocked off course, but he used the blast to duck into a tight loop. Another water pulse sped past him, but he dodged it and returned the favor with a wave of fire spreading across the sky like a curtain of flames. The gyarados bellowed in pain, nearly thrown backward, and Gale used that to dive forward with aerial ace and steel wing. It roared again and fell, where a flurry of shadow balls met it.

The other trainer on the shore recalled his knocked out dodrio with a panicked expression. As if it was smelling fear, the gyarados swung in his direction, snarling loud enough for Ash to hear it all the way from the street. It lunged.

With a flash of light, Karma appeared in front of the raging water type. Her shine melted from the sheer force she was pushing through it, but the gyarados was unable to hit them both with another exploding ball of water as a barrier covered the shore. It roared in rage, thrashing against the water, but Karma touched the man with her paw and teleported them both out with a crack like rolling thunder. She appeared next to Ash, paws nothing but an inch above the ground, psionic bubble nearly depleted. The other trainer stammered out a thank you before sprinting back toward Vermillion.

Wraith fired another shadow ball, covering Gale's escape from a vicious bite. When it swung toward the haunter, Gale slapped a second heat wave onto it, keeping it safely pinned between the two of them. With a snarl, it swatted away a dark pulse and ducked under water, retreating. It didn't seem to think them worth it. Ash let out a wild cry of relief.

Back on shore, Rhyhorn growled and kept his electricity in his horn. A small pod of shellder crept closer to shore only to be met with an enormous flamethrower that stopped them in their tracks.

Scorch barked furiously as the poliwhirl facing her gurgled. It pounded a fist against its side, spitting a water gun. She dodged it quickly, turning to face it with three will-o-wisps primed. The moment she launched them, the spiral shape on the water type's chest began to hum a soft pink and swirl.

She staggered. The hypnosis was particularly potent, part of the poliwag's line hunting strategy, and even her proficiency in the Mind Arts wouldn't help her. Slowly, her legs began to give up beneath her, eyes drooping. Karma teleported next to her with a crack, blasting the poliwhirl with a powerful psybeam with a low thrum of anger. It was thrown backward, but not without a parting shot of a bubble beam. Scorch was hit and sent flying, but she dragged herself back up and yipped determinably to her friend. Karma nodded back, eyes glowing as she scanned for more opponents.

Ash started closer to the shore, gyarados gone. His pokemon might need instructions and he couldn't always ask Karma to focus on fighting and listening to his instructions, and even though his adrenaline sung sharply through his veins as he grew closer to the shore, he didn't stop. His team needed him.

He caught sight of a strange shadow under the surface of the water. Karma's ears snapped toward it, raising her shine. Whatever it was, it had definitely attracted her attention.

It came to the shore, jabbing its head through the water. He didn't recognize it - it wasn't a Kantonese pokemon or even a Johtoean one, but he could guess it was at least a water type. It let loose another roar before hauling itself out of the water, using two powerful flippers near its front.

The pokemon was similar in shape to a dewgong, but it was very different - instead of white, it was a pale blue with a cream chest. Bright white whiskers were basic of its mouth, twitching wildly, two sharp fangs poking out. Ash guessed it was three feet tall but nearly six long, and when it raised itself fully up it was almost staring him in the eyes with its own gleaming black gaze. Its thick tail - almost like a vaporeon's fin - slapped against the shore, releasing a spray of water.

It made a sound that Ash could only classify as a bark, but it was so incredibly different than Scorch's happy sound that he didn't know what to make of it. The sound was a deep, vicious thing that sent shivers down his spine and immediately activated his fight or flight response - this was the sound of a predator, the sound his ancestors had learned to respect or die.

Ash guessed it was probably part ice type, judging by the crystals around its slick fur. Gale and Wraith were distracted by a powerful dewgong and Scorch didn't have the firepower. Only Karma and Rhyhorn were able to fight. Her eyes flashed blue as she pulled instructions right out of Ash's thoughts and quickly relayed them to the rhino.

Rhyhorn rumbled and charged forward, horn primed. It growled, flippers slapping against the ground hard enough to indent it, and released a blast of wind. Ash shivered, ducklettflesh prickling up his arms even from Vermillion, taking a step backward. The wind was edged in snow flurries, sucking the warmth from the air before it slammed into Rhyhorn.

The ground type bellowed in pain, legs freezing up as his body temperature plummeted. Wartortle's water attacks could cut beneath his plates and slightly lower his body temperature, but ice energy had a far different style.

His charge slowed, legs locking even as he tried to go through with horn attack. The pokemon barked angrily and slid away, flippers pounding against the ground as it moved out of the way and focused on the next pokemon.

Karma threw her shine up as its cold eyes slid to her. The silver trembled, edges melting and reforming at the same time as she forced power through it. With a hiss, ears pinned, she thrust it out and released a blinding light. The flash nearly knocked Ash back despite him being prepared for it, but it did its job - Rhyhorn was able to shake off the cold and charge forward with another horn attack.

Gale shrieked with pain after the dewgong managed to tag his wing. Wraith swooped in to cover him, two shadow punches slamming directly against its eyes. It howled, falling back, and Wraith did his best to keep it that way.

The fearow had seen better days. Frost coated his primaries and his flight was jerky, even as he pumped his wings furiously to get back to shore. Wraith finished with the dewgong and swooped in to try and cover them both.

Rhyhorn bellowed, thrown backward from a truly impressive body slam. Karma tried to hit it with a psybeam, successfully distracting it from them, but its gaze only trailed to the side to see the weakened flying type.

The seal-like pokemon roared, blasting out a fluctuating aurora beam that snapped and crackled through the air. Scorch blitzed forward, taking the ice attack to protect the retreating Gale, but the cold was too much for her to handle. She was thrown back, flash fire forcibly deactivated as her inner flame couldn't handle the sudden change in temperature, ice crystalizing over her fur. Scorch forced herself to stand. Her paws trembled beneath her. Wraith swooped in to deal with the pokemon, trying to give her an escape route.

Scorch's eyes flashed a pale blue, trying to reach out to Karma. The kadabra shook her head - her energy was too low to teleport the fire type out, barely able to keep herself up. With a whine of pain, the tired vulpine began to start limping toward Ash.

Wraith gave an angry hiss but he wasn't able to dodge the aurora beam that swept cleanly through his center. He exploded in a burst of grey, trickling down toward the ground, gases writhing as he tried to reform.

Ash's team was being picked apart. He called out for Karma to try and box it, for Rhyhorn to use rock blast, already pulling off Scorch's pokeball to recall her. The fire type valiantly stumbled toward him.

Rhyhorn ripped up the earth around them, growling a challenge to get the roughly seal-like pokemon to turn towards him. It did, barking, but spat out a beam of icy energy that changed color with every second. Most of the rocks were stopped by the aurora beam but a few others smacked into the pokemon. It bellowed in pain, eyes narrowed in rage, but Wraith, having been able to roughly reform, though without his hands, blocked it with a shadow ball.

The sky darkened. Ash grimaced, hugging his jacket closer to himself and pulling the brim of his hat down as a chilled wind crawled through the clearing. Rhyhorn roared, spines rattling, but the seal-like pokemon barely reacted. It cranked its head back, maw gaping, and fired a brilliant beam of icy white energy.

It slammed into a pale cloud, lighting it up from the inside like a lantern. Immediately, the cloud thickened, growing darker and darker. It split up into more clouds, covering the sky like a blanket. Something hit Ash's arm hard enough for him to notice, some sort of stinging pellet. He looked down to see a tiny chunk of ice melting into the ground.

Hail. The pokemon had summoned a damn hailstorm.

It didn't seem to be experienced with it - the clouds were breaking up on the outer layers and he was shivering instead of freezing - but even that was deadly. Rhyhorn was already trembling, spines rattling against each other as he vainly tried to charge forward once again.

The seal pokemon was still recovering from the energy loss and Rhyhorn had a clear shot for horn attack. It did damage, managing to puncture past thick layers of fat to draw blood, but it hadn't done much. Hail as large as pebbles bounced off of his plates, chilling him further, and by the random locking of his limbs, Ash guessed this was as close to paralysis Rhyhorn was going to experience. Karma blasted it with a psybeam, but most of her strength was sapped by the winds. Wraith, in his weakened state, was focusing on not being blown away. "Flamethrower!" He shouted.

The pokemon's eyes slid to him. It barked again, flippers slamming against the ground. Sniping off another twisting beam of icy energy, it knocked Rhyhorn back and charged, ignoring the flames.

Ash sprung to the side, trusting the pokemon's lack of four limbs or terrestrial build. It slid past him, bellowing in anger. But it redoubled over again, whiskers twitching and eyes bright, and went for him.

It managed to clip him on the chest with one of its flippers. He immediately went flying backward, head bouncing off of the ground

Ash groaned, head spinning. A fierce, pounding pain took presence in his chest, thrashing like a living being, and he could still hear the eerie howl of the pokemon. He struggled to rise to his feet. A sudden brilliant blinding light spun through his eyes and he tried to focus, stumbling. Before he could take a step, thick arms wrapped around his torso and legs and picked him up.

What felt like cold stone pressed against his skin, a dull warmth pounding beneath its coarse surface. Ash shook away stars from his eyes just to feel the ground tremble beneath them. The seal-like pokemon let loose another threatening bark, flippers thumping, before a massive spike of earth exploded beneath it, bursting equally through land and sea. It was thrown almost ten feet up to land with a dull thud, eyes rolling back in its head.

Ash managed to jerk a finger toward the rest of his exhausted team. "Catch it," he said. Karma twitched her ears, floating limply over to his bag. She glowed softly at it, psychically grabbing one of his empty pokeballs from his outer pockets. Karma tapped it between the pokemon's eyes, dissolving it into a burst of scarlet light. The pokeball writhed against the ground for nearly two minutes before clicking complete, settling back against the sand. He felt the arms tighten around him, pulling him tighter to its chest while the pokemon holding him let loose a puff of angry breath at the stationary pokeball.

He rolled his head back, eyes still blurry. But what he saw was impossible to ignore.

Rhyh- _Rhydon_ let out a fearsome roar, shaking the earth beneath his feet.

Ash laughed. It made his ribs hurt and breath catch in his throat, but he couldn't stop - his starter was here. His starter was evolved.

Rhydon snorted, clutching him tighter before carefully setting him down. Ash almost stumbled before craning his head back to look at the near six foot tall behemoth that was now part of his team.

Their victory was short lived. The hailstorm was still roaring overhead and Ash could hear the shriek of seadra growing closer and closer. "We're not done yet, bud. Earth power!"

He could almost swear Rhydon chuckled.

Rhydon bellowed, stomping his foot onto the ground. The earth swelled and buckled beneath him, before abruptly shooting forward and buckling beneath the water. The waves above meant nothing for protection as the three seadra went flying, fins flapping furiously before they thudded to the ground. Rhydon rumbled, tail thumping against the ground. A ripple spread over the earth, pushing the twitching water types back into the water.

Karma pulled her gaze away from the behemoth ground type, but it was clear she was in awe. She tried to raise her shine to attack but trembled violently - before she could protest, Ash recalled her. She'd only end up more injured. His stain twitched but she didn't fight back against it.

Wraith flew forward to blast a creeping golduck, but before he could get there an earth power rippled beneath it and exploded it near ten feet in the air. Rhydon roared his approval, scarlet eyes flashing to the next opponent.

He was on an evolution high. Ash had no idea how long it would last but even evolution wouldn't remove the injuries he had already received.

More pokemon were coming. Wraith and Rhydon were the last ones left - Gale and Scorch had been recalled, being far more up close in the battles than the others, and Karma had exhausted herself with the endless teleporting - and the water types were coming at the same rate they had been before.

But they were also at the advantage. Ash winced as another chunk of ice slammed into his side - the hailstorm was picking up strength. Without the seal-like pokemon there to contain it, it was spreading out of control, winds roaring. Rhydon's flamethrower kept the cold at bay but his heat reserves would fail eventually. Another earth power pounded through the land, ramming into a distracted poliwhirl. Rhydon lowered his horn, preparing to charge, when a voice broke out of the fighting.

"Pyroar, flame it!"

The sky was suddenly lit up by what seemed like another sun. A burst of fire so bright Ash could hardly look at it shot upward, slamming into the hailstorm with a crash like stars exploding. It burst straight through the cloud and Ash could see it begin to evaporate, breaking up like it was a mere mist instead of a fully fledged hailstorm. Within seconds, Ash could see the sun.

A pokemon blitzed over the shore. He could hardly see anything but a blur of red and black as something ran in front of all the approaching water type like a bolt of lightning. Flames roared behind it like a cape. A gyarados reared, orange particles of light swirling in front of its gaping maw.

The pokemon barely gave it more than a moment of attention before firing an absolutely enormous blast of fire. The gyarados should have resisted it but it just screamed, high and sharp, its failed hyper beam exploding in its face as it flopped against the surface of the water. It sunk below and didn't resurface.

The fire type - Pyroar, the voice had said - bathed the shore in liberal rivers of fire, steam billowing upward in clouds. Water types retreated before the type they were supposed to dominate, though only few managed to get far enough away before Pyroar baked them alive.

It stayed in one place for only a moment before running off, flames spilling off of its enormous red and gold mane. Pyroar blurred forward, paws thumping against the ground like a heartbeat before stopping in front of him.

Ash stared up at the behemoth. It was covered in black and brown fur, long tail lashing behind it for both balance and power. Huffing in amusement at him, it turned and blasted the shellder that had been giving Karma trouble, swinging its head to get them all. They shrieked, shells flapping uselessly as they were blown backward. With the hissing crackle of rising steam, the entire shore erupting into a cloud of mist that almost hide the sun again. Giving a low rumble, Pyroar loped back to blast a final retreating water type.

The sand that had been beneath its paws was now splintered pieces of glass, pads imprinted and well formed enough that he could see small lines from fur. Ash knelt and touched one of them, quickly retracting his hand - still burning. It hadn't even been touched by the external flame on the fire type, though he had felt the heat from its mane from nearly twenty feet away.

Pyroar leapt nearly twenty feet forward, landing proudly on a exposing mound of sand. It roared, lashing its tail and blasting another wall of fire into the sky. Without so much as a last cry of defeat, the rest of the clouds in the sky disappeared, leaving the brightest blue possible, even though the sun was near the horizon. From nearly a hundred feet away, Ash could hear its pleased purr.

A trainer walked up to it. They patted it behind its enormous ears, saying something Ash didn't have a chance to hear. But he did see them turn toward him - or, more importantly, at the spot where the seal pokemon had been.

Pyroar strode next to its trainer as they walked along the beach, bright blue eyes flashing like it was a psychic. Its trainer, while tall, only came up to a bit below eye level. With every breath, Ash could see heat waves ripple outward, sand hardening under its paws.

The trainer was a fair bit taller than him, wearing protective black and red clothing. She was around twenty, maybe older, with pinkish-red hair contained in a long braid. Tilting her bright red sunglasses down at him, she exposed sharp orange eyes. A grin spread over her tan face. "You the one that captured that sealeo?" Her accent was something gentle, almost lilting, which didn't work with her harsh appearance and sharp edges.

"Sealeo?" He repeated. "I think so. I don't know its name."

She nodded, reaching without looking to touch Pyroar's side. It huffed at her, keeping its sapphire eyes on Ash. "I thought so. It has a powerful hail but doesn't know what it's doing. What are your pokemon?"

Ash was more than a little confused at the questioning, but the woman exuded a confidence that made him answer. "Rhydon, fearow, vulpix, haunter, and kadabra."

As if he was summoned, Rhydon roared and lumbered forward. He managed to disguise his unsteady footsteps well enough, but it was clear to see he was unused to his form and only running on adrenaline - his tail dragged behind him and he was heavily hunched forward. He glared at Pyroar with a scarlet gaze, rumbling a challenge.

The fire type looked mildly amused.

"A vulpix, _non_? How many tails?" Her eyes flashed at the ground and fire type.

"Five." The woman hummed, interested. "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

Her smile broke for a moment before she laughed. "Malva. And you are?"

"Ash Ketchum." Ash decided that he had to ask - there was no way he was getting out of here without finding out what type of pokemon that lion was. "What kind of pokemon is Pyroar? Where's it from?"

She took a step backward, scratching behind its gently flickering mane. When it wasn't actively in a fight, the mane seemed to die down to just reddish orange fur, though Malva's avoidance of the front and the heat pressing against Ash's face showed it was far from dormant.

"He's a pyroar, a fire and normal type. My starter, actually." Malva grinned, turning back to Ash. "He's pretty hard to find in Kalos, as they hunt in packs. I had to work to get him to join me."

Ash blinked. "Kalos?"

"You heard me," she said calmly, but there was a bright gleam in her eyes.

Kalos, while one of the largest regions in the world, was absolutely closed doors on most everything that went on inside. About twenty-thirty years ago, they had gone steadily quieter and quieter before just shutting up entirely. The results from their Conference was always published, and their professor, someone named Sycamore, reported his findings, but other than that they kept silent about most things. It was rare to meet anyone from the far away region, but now that he was focusing, he could place her accent.

He didn't know too much about it, though their Champion had been replaced only two or three years ago, which had caused a big stir. He remembered the Elite Four had one dragon-typed member, who he had researched. There was also a-

"Wait, are you Malva Pichira? The Elite Four member? Who trains fire types and is rumored to have _crushed_ Blaine that one time around seven years ago-"

She laughed. "Not bad. I'm not normally recognized outside of Kalos. I am a member of the Elite Four, yes. Before you ask, I am in Kanto as my Conference isn't for many months. I am a fan of traveling and my tasks do not require much, and many of my friends are away. Kanto is un centre de life and passion - there is much to report here, and Kalos likes to hear of the world." She didn't mention that no other region was allowed to hear of Kalos.

There was a pounding that almost made Ash look around to see where Rhydon was, but when he looked up, it was just Lt. Surge stomping his way over to the two of them.

The man was as tense as a board, hair out of place and scratches lining his army clothes. He glowered down at both Ash and Malva, but his anger wasn't directed at either of them - the enormous burn scorching his exposed arm might have something to do with it.

"Ketchum," he said gruffly, eyebrows raising in surprise. "The hell you doing here again?"

Before Ash could answer, the man swept on. His voice was nothing but concern wrapped in so many layers of sharp fury that Ash could barely hear it.

"Is your team injured? Recall your haunter, it's two seconds from falling - and that rhydon isn't much better. Your other two - vulpix, fearow? Are they hurt?"

He held up his pokeballs. Wraith disappeared without a complaint, visibly sagging with exhaustion and body losing its sharp edges, but Rhydon growled lowly at him when he held up his oldest pokeball. Ash accepted it - the ground type had never taken his eyes off of the obviously powerful Pyroar and likely didn't want to leave Ash online.

"Good," Surge grunted. "Are you hurt?"

Ash opened his mouth to say no but his ribs gave a painful twinge. Surge saw his expression and narrowed his eyes, honestly growling when Ash tried to protest. "You aren't going to say shit, Ketchum. I'll send Joy after your ass if I don't see you in the Pokemon Center by the end of the day."

The man looked haggard. Even as he scolded Ash with the same powerful, gruff voice as before, his stiff shoulders couldn't hide the exhaustion present under his eyes nor the multiple wounds over his face and arms. Ash agreed to his demands. Surge nodded tersely, eyes drawn back to scanning the surroundings.

"How many?" Malva said quietly, drawing Surge's attention. He just stared at her, incomprehensible emotions running through his eyes.

"Fils de pute," she swore. "Go. I will alert les dirigeants, they will come if they are able - they are our version of your ACE trainers. I will search for more trainers on the shore, go yourself to the Harbor."

With another gruff snort, the lieutenant turned and walked toward the next trainer, shoulders less tight than they had been before.

Malva gave a small smile. "He has never been one for emotions, Ash, and I knew him long before he earned his title. Surge is not heartless, but now his actions, however indirect, may have caused the loss of lives."

"What?"

She pointed to the distance, far over the wild horizon, where Ash could see nothing but the crash of waves. "The League had given him the order and he must obey - but neither could foresee the consequences."

Ash wasn't getting it.

"Pokemon do not attack for no reason, Ash. Pyroar didn't have to do much to chase them away and then they did not attempt to come back. If I had thought this was a true battle, this shore would have been left far more touched than it is. They were scared but not angry, confused but not aggressive." Ash wanted to disagree on that last point, but couldn't find the words to speak to the Elite Four member in front of him.

Malva withdrew a slip of paper from her pocket, popping a pen from a slip on her side. She scrawled something on it and handed it over to him - he took it, not looking at it yet in his focus on the horizon.

"That sealeo will need an experienced hand to teach it how to properly use hail. I know a captain that can give you the help you need. Fergus Umio - he runs one of the old Seagallop Ferries. I know he's worked with the spheal line in his frequent runs to Hoenn so he should be your needed assistance, though he will require pay. He should be around Fuschia now."

He looked down at the paper - it seemed to be her business card, but in scratchy penmanship on the back was Fergus' number. Slipping it into his pants pocket, he looked back over the ocean. There was still nothing to see.

"Parfois, the world does not understand itself." She clucked her tongue to Pyroar, who rumbled back in response. His mane faded back to the bare fur, seemingly flat against the inferno it had been before, and she easily climbed onto his back. Crouching, he leapt away in a blur. Ash didn't even see Malva twitch from the wild jump.

He stayed staring into the distance, where he could barely see a creeping pillar of smoke.

xXx

Nurse Joy pounced on him the second he came within eyesight. Once the thrill of the fight had left, he was now positive something was wrong with his ribs, and his hunched over posture only displayed that to the rest of the world.

The nurse was patrolling on the border of Vermillion, avoiding the water while also sweeping up any other trainers retreating back. Once the battle was over, Ash had came back into the city only for the pink-haired woman to charge at him like a tauros. In the next second, he had an assistant by his side asking him multiple questions about what had occured on the field. Ash managed to answer most everything but now his worry was over his pokemon instead of himself. They accepted the six pokeballs, listening carefully to his worry over his newest addition, and promised to heal them quickly. But for the moment, they laid down Ash in a Pokemon Center room and set to examining his ribs.

Two were bruised from where he had been hit, which only served to make him excited about the strength of the water type. It was more than difficult to properly splint them so Ash would take it easy for a bit less than a week and let them naturally heal. After a night of just laying in bed, he was allowed to see his pokemon, at least those that were healed. Gale and Scorch were still under stasis.

Ash pushed the small chairs and bedside table as far against the wall as he could to get as much space as possible. With that done, he released his starter.

Rhydon, the fierce friend than had been with him since day one, was now a behemoth to match his protective personality. He rumbled his arrival, hunched over on all fours like he was still a rhyhorn. With a growl, he forced himself to rise to his back legs, occasional spasms twitching over him as he tried to hold onto his balance.

But he found it and, when he stood fully to proud attention, he was magnificent.

Rhydon was nearly six feet tall, incredibly bulky even without his plates. Except they weren't plates anymore. Now, they were a set of immensely durable scales, smoothly fitting over each other in an impenetrable set of armor. He had actual ears, large sheets of stone-like material extending upward to funnel the sound downward into his eardrums. Ridges ran along his back, almost like his spines but smaller, edged in sharp points. His underbelly was a light cream and he had opposable thumbs, though they seemed so protected by his armor that Ash guessed he wouldn't have the best dexterity.

Besides him now being upright, the second biggest change was his tail. It was nearly three feet long, wrapped in overlapping scales and looking heavier than Ash's entire body. Even the slight twitches he could see, presumably from Rhydon trying to figure it out, showed the muscles beneath the surface. Rhydon before had always been strong, his charges were enough to show that, but now he seemed to be about as strong as members from the machop line.

Rhydon noticed his admiration and spun his horn. Ash gaped as the whirring noise filled the examination room, the horn spinning like the world's most powerful drill bit. He couldn't even begin to comprehend how powerful horn attack would be now.

His pokedex beeped quietly as he scanned his starter, the red beam connecting with his chest and bringing back the information. The page opened and began to display the text trainers before him had discovered.

 _Rhydon, the drill pokemon. Even by lightly spinning its drill, it can shatter pure diamond. Its rugged armor can protect it from extreme heats, even magma straight from a volcano. Its tail has been known to destroy solid steel with a single blow._

Ash frowned, peering through the available buttons. He wanted to know more. Eventually, he found the extra information and pressed it.

 _Its armor is made up of a type of stone-altered keratin. The plates it had as a rhyhorn have fused together to form its set of armor, though it is still very different from the gyarados or kingdra scale types as they regenerate instead of growing new scales. Their armor can keep them healthy in temperatures of up to 3,600 degrees, and several more powerful specimens of the species have been known to spend up to twelve hours a day in the heart of a volcano with no negatives side effects. In the ancient times, rhydon were used as a second defense behind charging rhyhorn, and their armor could deflect cannonballs with only light scratches. Their horn never stops growing, though its growth slows after five years. It can only spin clockwise, and despite several investigations, it is unclear how the lightning rod aspect interacts with the spinning aspect. It is hypothesized that the lightning rod has been split into two sections, with the largest in the center of the horn and the other absorption center in the smaller, un-spinning secondary horn further back on their head. Males possess a longer horn than females. Despite the large and usable fangs in its mouth, rhydon are still herbivorous like their pre-evolution. As they can now dig into the earth, they will develop much more specific tastes in minerals, and have been known to dig immense tunnels that rival those of the onix line in complexity to find the right mineral. They have incredible defenses and their attack prowess is immense, but have still not developed proper defenses against cold temperatures nor high pressured water blasts. In the rhydon stage, they are often much more loyal to their trainers or their herds._

Rhyhorn - Rhy _don_ , that would take some getting used to after three and some change months - snorted and leaned down as best he could to Ash. The cramped room prevented him from leaning too far down, but more out of a sense of not wanting to break it than any real sense of restrainment.

Ash knew his training regime would be changed incredibly. Rhydon would have a very different attacking style. Though he'd still stick with his charges, he wouldn't have to just turn and charge again and again. He could learn punching attacks now, or just simply just grab his opponent and stab them with his horn.

In fact, he might want to learn some things from Gale about having a longer horn, at least in comparison to a beak.

"You're incredible," he said softly, reaching forward to press his palm against the smooth armor over his chest. The ground type rumbled, reaching awkwardly to touch Ash's shoulder. Smiling, he put his own hand over the grey plating.

A moment passed in quiet happiness. He rolled his head forward, thunking his forehead against thick chest plates. "Are you sure you don't want a nickname?"

Rhydon snorted.

xXx

Ash was forced to spend the next day alone in the Pokemon Center - apparently _hugging_ Rhydon had upset his ribs - and used that for research. Malva had pointed to the sea, Lt. Surge had been given some sort of order, and the pokemon had attacked.

He found the answer soon enough.

The SS Anne was a powerful ship that had been sailing for decades. In all that time, there had only been a few incidents, mainly with wild pods of pokemon. The Anne had become quite popular as it was large enough to host pokemon tournaments, which was exactly what was happening.

Lt. Surge had been given sixty tickets to give out alongside his gym badges for an annual tournament, the first time they had been available for not just purchase. All sixty had been given away within a month of arriving.

The SS Anne, on the website, was listed as 'lost'.

There was no official report, but it had probably only happened a few days ago. The pictures of the ship looked bright, including a promotional photo of everyone gathered on board for the tournament. Several important people were up front on a podium, but Ash couldn't recognize them. Almost one and a half thousand people were on board, most with their own teams of pokemon, from all over the world. It had only left about a week before Ash had arrived in Vermillion.

Now it was lost.

Sinking ships had been known to stir up wild pokemon into a frenzy, searching to destroy what was ruining their environment. Johto had had the most recent incident of that, after a fishing boat crashed in their Lage of Rage and a magikarp evolved to escape.

Ash sucked in a deep breath, setting his pokedex on his chest and staring at the sterile white tiles of the ceiling. No official report yet.

He didn't know whether he wanted to read it when it came out.

xXx

Gale shrieked proudly as he was released, thoroughly shaking himself of loose feathers and lifting his crest. He had been kept in the Pokemon Center for four days, rehealing all the damage that hadn't had time to heal after his battle against Pidgeotto, and was beyond glad to be free.

He turned to Ash, squawking fiercely as he prepared to hear the plan for their next battle, when his black gaze slid slowly to the side.

Rhydon, from his vantage point of nearly a foot above Gale's head, rumbled.

Ash almost laughed his way all the way back to the Pokemon Center.

Scorch took to it much better. She yipped happily, bounding forward to look up at him. He grunted back, leaning down somewhat, and she apparently took that as a challenge. Tensing, muscles flashing with quick attack, she leapt nearly four feet up and landed on his shoulders.

Rhydon jerked, but Scorch had planted her paws between his dull spines and was secured. She crawled forward to pap him on the snout, chuffing warmly in her native tongue, no doubt congratulating him. He rumbled back, reaching upward to light tap her head with his claws. Scorch yipped, bracing off of his forehead and leaping down easily.

That was adorable. Scorch was Ash's most agile pokemon, it was obvious to see, and she was very comfortable in it. Rhydon would probably have to get used to more shoulder-stealing moments later on.

Karma drifted forward, ears perked and tail twitching. Rhydon rumbled, eyes flashing blue as she reached out with her psychic abilities to communicate, though it didn't last long. They nodded at each other.

Wraith was busy exploring Rhydon's shadow, his best way of comparing each other. The ground type let him, standing strong. With a hiss, the ghost flew upward to poke at Rhydon's horn, examining the tip. Rhydon, a smug gleam in his eyes, spun it quickly and imploding Wraith's hand. The ghost hissed and flew backward, regenerating it quickly.

Ash scolded him half heartedly, leaning forward to punch at Rhydon's side. The ground type barely seemed to notice the contact, but he did look over and let out a puff of dusty breath into Ash's face. He coughed.

"Alright, you guys," he said, still attempting to hack out the dust while his team hooted their laughter. "We've got a new teammate - a sealeo, ice and water type. It's pretty strong but Nurse Joy didn't tell me it was overly aggressive."

They nodded at him, getting into ready positions. Rhydon lumbered over to Ash's side, horn spinning idly with a low whirring noise. Ash took a step forward to be his new pokemon's first sight.

Nurse Joy had given him a light description of sealeo, as it was called. It was found mostly Hoenn, but lived most of its life out in the ocean, even migrating to Unova every now and then. Because of that, they could be found most everywhere, as long as there was water and a decent food supply. They didn't come to shore often, migrating alongside the enormous ice floes in the middle of the sea.

But while that prepared him, he hadn't been ready for knowledge of its evolution.

Walrein were dewgong on steroids. Five feet tall and nearly eleven long when they evolved, they had four limbs they let them move around on land just as well as in the water. There was little that their tusks couldn't stab through and their thick fat protected them from everything else. They were tanks that dealt far more damage than they could take, even with their weakness.

Sealeo were hardly weak, either, and its strength to be able to change the weather of the environment showed that. Ash couldn't wait to train it.

He waited a second before releasing the pokemon. Sealeo appeared in the center of their wise circle. It rose upward, blue fur ruffling in the breeze and twitching its whiskers. With a low grunt, it turned fully toward Ash. He could see its eyes narrow.

Its first attack, a blast of water, went toward the pokemon it thought was weakest against it. Rhydon hunkered down, bracing himself, and snapped a shock wave almost twice as big as his regular through the stream of water.

Sealeo barked furiously, whiskers frying with the amount of electricity. Rhydon growled from the water, pushed back a foot, but he recovered fast and readied himself. It turned fully toward Rhydon, launching a quick barrage of aurora beams, quickly learning to avoid water when facing the ground type.

A flamethrower melted the ice into water and continued onward. Sealeo spat more water to try and reduce it, but the flames hit it hard and covered its back in a thin layer of soot. It barked, slamming its flippers against the ground, and reared its head upward.

Ash knew what was coming. He shot a glance toward Karma, who twitched her ears in response. The second a beam of light began to grow in its mouth, she created a barrier directly over its mouth.

The hail exploded an inch from its face. It howled, falling backward and thrashing its tail. Wraith clicked his fangs together, claws twitching, but everyone stayed back and let it recover. When it did, it just stayed there, glaring at those around it but not fighting back. It trembled from the pain of its own attack but refused to vocalize it, thumping its tail against the ground.

Ash walked forward, crouching slightly to be close to it. Karma twitched her shine, ready to prepare a barrier if needed, but Sealeo just grunted lowly as Ash grew closer.

"You done?" He said, earning a dark glare but no sound. "I understand you didn't want to be captured, but I did it, and that makes me your trainer."

Sealeo huffed, breath cold enough it brought bumps over Ash's skin. It twitched its gaze away but brought it back quickly, tail thumping against the ground. A crackle of electricity swept over Rhydon's horn.

"You like to fight, I can see that, and you're strong enough you probably don't lose to often. But my team is stronger. Being a trainer's pokemon is all about becoming strong enough to stop losing. That's why Rhydon is so strong." Sealeo glared at the ground type but seemed to acknowledge its strength. Ash waited for it to turn back to him before talking. "If you join me, I can make you strong enough to fight him."

Rhydon rumbled but he seemed to find it more amusing than threatening. Sealeo jerked at that, black eyes flashing before it barked, bobbing its head in almost a vicious agreeal.

Ash grinned, a bit in relief. Water types that lived far out at sea were known for being more high strung, having far less contact with humans, and could become violent if offended. Thankfully, Sealeo seemed to be more upset with itself at losing than at the ones that had beat it, and having a rival would help pokemon to grow as long as they didn't take it too seriously. Rhydon would take it down, type advantages or not, if it got too serious.

"Mind if I scan you?" He asked, tapping his pokedex. Sealeo didn't react, but it did stare curiously as Ash aimed the red beam at its chest.

 _Sealeo, the ball roll pokemon. They are known for balancing things on their nose to learn their scent and shape. Using powerful flippers, it shatters ice to hunt in the deep ocean. They are territorial and will defend their pod against anything._

 _The sealeo knows the moves defense curl, powder snow, water gun, ice ball, body slam, aurora beam, headbutt, and hail. Its ability is thick fat, which protects it from fire and ice moves._

That was a good moveset. Sealeo, as it only had two flippers, was more of a stationary fighter that had a nice mix of close range and distance moves, but his research on its species showed that it was incredible hard to catch in water. Its impressive water storages would allow it to fight for a long time and its ability only increased that. This was a pokemon Gary would be hard pressed to beat with enough training.

It seemed to see his impressed expression, letting loose a pleased bark. Rhydon growled, narrowing his eyes, but Ash snapped his fingers and he subsided. Sealeo turned to him, black eyes shining.

"You'll be a part of my team now," he said. "That means you'll be trained harder than you've ever been before and you'll fight battles harder than you've ever fought before. My team works hard. If you don't think you're strong enough for that, if you don't think you're strong enough to fight against pokemon you've never seen before, against trainers who want nothing but to knock you out, against odds that seem impossible, then I will drop you back in the ocean right now to spend your time relaxing."

Ash had nailed the right approach. Sealeo's eyes darkened and it barked again, this time low. It was a prideful pokemon, one content in its power if its hail said anything, and Ash had defeated it. With any luck, it would throw itself whole heartedly into training in order to claim a spot on the team's register.

He frowned, pulling open its page once again. Male. It made sense - male sealeo were often lonesome hunters, which explained why he wasn't with a pod. Ash didn't worry about having pulled the ice type away from a family; male sealeo generally had to evolve to walrein, if they could manage, to attract the females needed for a pod.

Sealeo barked roughly at him, his breath carrying a drop in temperature intense enough to make Ash shiver. He shrugged it off and turned to the water type, catching his gaze toward the rest of the team.

"Scorch," he offered, pointing to the vulpine. She yipped back, not fully relaxing from her wary stance - the aurora beam he had nailed her with was still strong in her mind. "Gale." The fearow shrieked defiantly but Ash could see the gleam in his black eyes - another sparring partner. "Wraith." The ghost hissed, claws spinning from their detached position, but he was staying close to the shadows with the powerful sun. "Karma."

"And this is Rhydon," Ash finished, gesturing unnecessarily toward the bulky ground type. He rumbled his welcome to the ice type, scarlet eyes narrowed, but he didn't immediately launch into a stringent about his pack's rules. Ash appreciated that. He'd like to see Sealeo's moves before giving him the expectations for being on the team.

Sealeo barked. Ash took that as a sign he was ready and brought up the question he'd been thinking about - "Would you like a nickname?"

Every trainer had water names prepared, and so did he. They were the second most common pokemon and were useful against so many types it took a fool not to at least consider one. Ash had honestly thought he'd hunt down a horsea to have the powerful kingdra.

He had also pictured a team of dragonite, scizor, and nidoqueen. His journey had taught him pretty early on not to expect anything.

Sealeo let out a higher bark than before, as if he was trying to sound cheerful. He made the sound again, this time with a low chuffing in the back of his throat. Ash grinned, beginning to spout his pre-planned names.

Wave, Torrent, Tsunami, and Glacier were quickly rejected. Sealeo paused more on Abyss and Current, but eventually said no to those as well. Ash ran through more and more, reaching more for the ocean things. He realized he wasn't doing it right.

Sealeo was a prideful pokemon. He needed a name with power and strength behind it - not like Karma, who wanted something with meaning, but something that had tangible fierceness behind it. He knelt in front of the ice type.

"You lived in the ocean, so you should know what the tides are. They are the rise and fall of the ocean, bringing entire feet of water up every day. It is a powerful, unchanging force that humans have no control over, and riptides can drag anything out to sea in seconds. It is rumored Kyogre itself controls them. But if you grow strong enough, you could change them."

Sealeo's eyes were wide, whiskers twitching constantly as Ash spun him the tale. He wasn't done.

"The ocean is affected by many things - currents, storms, waves. But those change - the tides don't. They are the result of multiple legendaries - Kyogre, Cresselia, Lugia. Not every pokemon can claim this name. Do you think you're up to it?" Sealeo fiercely accepted it. He almost seemed to covet it, protecting it from the others.

Tide didn't quite roll off the tongue like Ash's other names, but it fit him well. He barked quietly at the name, flippers slapping against the ground.

His sixth pokemon. Now he had a full team, one that covered a large range of types and powers. If he caught any more pokemon, he'd have to send them back to Professor Oak instead of working with them. He wasn't sure what to do with that.

Now wasn't the time. Ash turned back to the team, keeping Tide in his line of sight.

"Nurse Joy's only keeping me here half a week, and we're going to spend that time training. Tide," he said with a grin, turning the pokemon's attention to him. "Let's see how strong you are."

xXx

Ash looked at the thoroughly battered tree and nodded approvingly. Tide had a solid grasp over most of his moves, although he mainly used his bulk instead of any actual finesse for his physical attacks. If Ash could give him a few strategies, he'd be a force to be reckoned with.

But he had no clue how to train hail.

The most his pokemon had to do with changing the weather was how Scorch could heat up her environment with flash fire. Other that that, he had no skill in it, and Tide was hardly any better than he was. The ice type had beaten the basics into himself but didn't know anything beyond that.

Captain Fergus - whoever that was, he still hadn't had time to look him up - was supposed to be docked in Fuschia around this time, going on his ever-present loop from Pallet Town to Cinnabar to Fuschia. If Malva was correct, Ash could hitch a ride and pick up some priceless tips and tricks to training the powerful move. Tide deserved it, even if he had only just joined the team. With the way he had thrown himself into training, Ash knew the captain would be good for him. His other friends could use it as well.

Avoiding a stretch of frozen grass from an aurora beam, he walked closer to Tide. The sealeo stared at him, obvious pride gleaming in his eyes - the moves he had demonstrated had chilled the air so much Ash had put on his jacket.

"You're strong," he said, grinning. "We can't put you in any mock battles until Nurse Joy - the pink haired lady who helped you - finishes healing you up, but basic move training should be okay. Come on. Let's go to the team."

Ash made to move but frowned when he heard the whistling winds of powder snow. Turning around, he saw Tide blowing cold gusts of wind onto the ground, adding a thin layer of ice over the grass and dirt. The sealeo looked up at him, barking almost defensively before slapping his flippers against the ground and beginning to slide over the frozen earth, releasing more powder snow as he went.

That was actually really smart. Ash trotted behind him, actually having to up his speed to keep up with the ice type.

Tide slid across the ground, cutting off his powder snow and drifting to a stop. Scorch eyed the trail of frozen dirt and activated flash fire, walking over the path to melt it quickly. She then walked over to him, beginning to yip instructions in her native tongue. Rhydon snorted and lumbered over, adding in occasionally. Far from being intimidated, Tide accepted the rules, even barking questions.

Ash pulled out his pokedex, opening the page of notes he had made while recovering in the Pokemon Center. Seeing Tide's moves had changed a few things, but his overall plan was the same. He waited until Scorch finished, idly scratching behind Gale's crest as he watched his team interact.

They turned to him, forming their normal half circle. Tide looked a bit confused but Wraith tapped the top of his head with his detached hand and waved him over. Tide slid into the circle between Wraith and Gale, turning toward Ash with a low bark.

His team knew how to be welcoming. A bright spark of pride popped in his chest.

"Last time we fought Gary, we lost," he announced, pacing around the slight circle of his pokemon. It felt a bit like he was giving a military speech. "We weren't weak, but we weren't strong enough either - that showed us it. So what we're going to do is get far, far stronger than he could ever imagine."

Shrieks and roars of approval met his words. Scorch, ever the second-in-command, had slammed her annoyance at Tide down and had given him a rundown of the past months of their journey. He took to it fast, growing almost angry at the trainer that had beaten the pokemon that had beaten him. Ash guessed it was probably going to be a stepping stone of some sort - beat Ash's team, then beat Gary's team. He just hoped he could find the boy.

"All of you are going to get a specialized training reign. Most of the time you will be working in pairs for your major area, then splitting up or getting new partners for other things. Here's the groups."

"Karma and Wraith." He ignored the flattening of ears and vicious grin sent his way. "You both are the trickiest pokemon here, but you both have weakness that others can exploit. Wraith, you're going to be learning new strategies from Karma, and Karma, you're going to be learning how to defend yourself against ghost and dark energies."

His hat abruptly glowed blue and slapped him across the face. Karma twitched her ears, mock angry, but the orange flash in his mind told him she was excited to learn how to counter her worst enemies.

"Gale and Scorch." Both of them peered at each other, but neither seemed upset. "Gale, you lost to the pidgeotto because you weren't fast. Scorch, you lost to the kangaskhan because you couldn't hit it hard enough. Gale, you know all about hitting things hard. Scorch, you know all about speed." They accepted the praise, but both had narrowed their eyes when Ash brought up their losses. "Scorch, you're going to teach Gale agility. You know enough moves to increase your speed that you should be able to teach him the basics and he can finish it off, and then you're going to nail him every time he doesn't go fast enough. Gale, you're teaching her how to increase her power, both with physical and not. She needs to break a tree this journey and you're the best one to teach her."

Scorch blinked at the thought. She was the tiniest on the team as well as a mostly ranged fire type - the thought of actually making a tree fall was comical to her. But Gale had broken trees before, a fair amount with aerial ace. He was the best to teach her - Rhydon had too much natural strength to teach anyone else how to break things and the Trio pokemon just used their mental abilities. She barked determinedly at Ash. She would prove him right.

Gale looked pleased at the thought of beating strength into another pokemon's head.

"And finally, Tide and Rhydon." The ground type rumbled, but he had been expecting it. "Tide, Rhydon is my most experienced battler, and he's going to teach you the works of trainer battles. You'll learn a lot from him about dodging, charging, gathering power, all the things that can end a battle. Rhydon, you need to learn to take ice and water moves. You can zap him with shock wave if he gets too strong for defense training but I don't want you to fight back otherwise. When you're recovering, you can start teaching Scorch flamethrower, but the majority of your time is going to be on this." Rhydon rumbled again, scarlet eyes narrowed. He was not going to enjoy this, even if he knew it was necessary.

Tide, on the other hand looked positively delighted.

xXx

Karma hummed at him, ears twitching back as she drank some water. She and Wraith had been going hard for the past couple of days, getting a better understanding of each other's skills and types. But that wasn't what they were both watching.

Roaring, Rhydon shuddered from another powerful blast of ice. He zapped Tide back with a weakened shock wave, a reminder to not use full power, but Tide launched another with the same strength. His fierce bark was more of a challenge than an encouragement.

"How many fights has he tried to pick?" Ash asked, popping a few more razz berries into his mouth.

Karma twitched her tail, practically full-belly laughter for her. _Four today._

Ash blinked. "That few? Is Rhydon's flamethrower finally getting through to him?"

She shook her head. _They took break. Leader fought back twice_.

"Okay, that's more realistic," Ash said, leaning farther back on the tree. "But there was at least triple that yesterday, and he hasn't given up yet." He shot her a grin. "I bet he'd be good weight training for confusion."

Her left ear twitched. _Perhaps_.

"After all, you were the one that captured him, so you're technically his trainer. So really, you should be the one to train him-"

Something hummed from behind him, and he turned just in time to see his chocolate bar begin to float out of his bag. "Karma! No!"

She made a mocking jerk but he snatched it before it could get too far, leveling a raised eyebrow at her. "I get you don't like _regular plebeian_ pokemon food, but this is mine. Tide and Rhydon are already costing me an arm and a leg to feed and chocolate is the only thing that is keeping me _alive_ surrounded by all of you heathens-"

Karma stole his bag of razz berries, twitched her ears at him, and teleported the second he tried to get them back. She sent him bright red flashes of laughter as he chased her around the clearing.

xXx

"This is a pretty simple move," he said conversationally, loading the disk into the TM machine, "but it'll help you get more used to your body. It's supposed to give you connection with your plates to the point where you can 'cut' off extra growth, which should be helpful. Theoretically, you could use it to increase growth, but let's not focus on that now."

Brock had given him one of the most useful tools in a ground - or rock, really - type's moveset. Rock polish was a dreadfully underlooked move, but with it, Rhydon could run at a speed that might make Scorch impressed. He would never be a jolteon, or really even a vulpix, but it was a surprise tactic that would double the danger of his charges.

Rhydon grunted as he was recalled. His pokeball flashed a pale grey-brown, switching through the different shades quickly as it worked. Within a minute, it was done and he released his starter.

The ground type rumbled, examining his body with new interest. He whirred his horn almost in thought before pausing, one of his chest plates beginning to glow. Rhydon snorted, flexing his claws, and a small sliver of rock fell to the ground.

Ash grinned and picked it up. It was stone-keratin, the same that made up Rhydon's protective armor, and he had cut it off successfully. "That's great, bud. I'll leave you to it - remember not to cut too much. If you don't know, just call me over."

He turned to leave but Rhydon rumbled, releasing a tremor through the earth with his tail. Ash turned around again, frowning, but Rhydon just crushed his claws and looked at him.

"You want to show me something?" Ash asked. Rhydon nodded, thumping his tail against a small rock. "Rock blast?"

Rhydon nodded again, letting out a low growl. Ash grinned and stepped back - some moves could evolve alongside evolution, as their hosts changed shape so would they. Rock blast wasn't overly known for it but Rhydon had seemed excited.

Rumbling, Rhydon brought his hands up. With a roar like grating stone, he jumped and slammed his tail into the ground.

The earth rose around him, four enormous chunks nearly the size of Ash himself. Rhydon growled and they ripped themselves into a dozen more pieces. Each was as hard as stone despite being dirt only a moment ago, the size of Ash's head and floating flawlessly.

Rhydon has unlocked his transformation abilities, able to turn dirt into hard rocks.

The ground type rumbled lowly, turning around to prod at the rocks with a silver claw. He seemed very pleased, letting them tremble in the air before gently dropping them back to earth. Once his control was released over them, they began to slowly erode back to thick dirt.

Ash grinned widely. Now _that_ was a tool a powerful pokemon like Rhydon deserved. "Well, if you had enough time to figure that out, then you should have plenty to figure out rock polish when you're training with Tide."

The ground type rumbled. Nurse Joy checked him over every night, though they were leaving tomorrow, and while Ash could see the defense training was working he still hated every moment of it. Tide didn't make it any easier by trying to pick a fight with every attack.

"You're doing great, bud," he said softly. Rhydon rumbled at that, patting Ash lightly on the shoulder. "Now go be a leader."

Rhydon let out a challenging roar that shook pidgey from the trees. From nearly a hundred feet away, Tide gave an answering bark, immediately charging toward the ground type. Ash trotted out of the way, content to watch his newest pokemon try to prove himself.

xXx

Gale shrieked from overhead, trying to access the psychic energy needed for agility as he flew overhead as security. He was always out in the forest, keeping a constant eye on Ash as he flew overhead.

Wraith was in his shadow, Karma was floating behind, Scorch was a little in front, and Rhydon loomed protectively by his side. Tide stayed in his pokeball, not exactly built for long travels. There had been a few trainers that had seen his small army of pokemon and scampered on by, including one holding a tiny metapod in their arms.

Karma's eyes flashed and one of Wraith's hands was hit by a lance of psychic energy and exploded. Wraith chuckled, reforming it quickly, and thickened his natural aura to the point Karma's psionic bubble deflated. As revenge, she cleared the leaves from above and let a beam of sunlight hit the ghost, chasing him back into Ash's shadow.

They traveled quickly. There were five routes they had to travel to get to Fuschia, though most of them didn't have any landmarks to investigate. A small town with a Pokemon Center was half way between the two cities, and they were pretty contained without much outside interference.

It was nice to set up a campsite again, passing out food and eating his own. Tide ate his pellets quickly, but slid under the cover of the trees to eat his berries. It had taken Ash a few days to figure out why.

Tide was called the ball roll pokemon for a reason. In order to figure out what things were, he bounced them on his nose to figure out their smell, look, and texture. The first time Ash had seen it, he understood why Tide hid it from the others.

It was kind of hilarious. He bounced it expertly on the tip of his nose, spinning like the highest trained circus pokemon. For such a prideful pokemon, it would instant humiliation for his team to see.

But Tide was almost operating blind for a fair amount of this. He didn't have the best senses and bouncing things on his nose was his way of investigating them. Ash would have to work with him to open up enough to do that around his friends.

That was for another time. He was just working on getting the ice type to not attack every pokemon around him for a good fight.

The sleeping bag was less comfortable than the bed at the Center, but hearing the quiet chirp of pidgey and skitter of rattata instead of the hum of air conditioning was relaxing. His friends scattered around the clearing, taking their usual positions. Gale had to search a while to find a branch strong enough to support him and Scorch was a little too attached to the fire to let it die to reasonable standards, but they all enjoyed the ambiance of the forest.

Rhydon let out a low growl, and Ash looked up from his sleeping bag to see his starter reaching out awkwardly with his arms. He wasn't used to his form yet, but he had mostly figured out how to move - the issue came with sleeping. Ash normally recalled him at night, as the Pokemon Center was too full for him to have gotten a large enough room for the ground type, but the forest had plenty of room. That wasn't the problem.

He didn't know how to lay down.

Ash bit back another laugh and shed off his sleeping bag, standing up. The ground type turned to him, rumbling in his throat.

"Come on. Arms out," he said, going to his side. "Like a pushup."

Rhydon pushed his arms out, dull claws shining, and shuffled. Growling lowly and closing his eyes, he fell like a tree. Scorch let out a startled bark as she was launched a few inches into the air from the hit, flash fire activating. She spun around, ears flat, before seeing it was just Rhydon. Spitting an ember at his prone form, she curled back up to sleep.

The ground type rumbled angrily, sprawled out like a fallen log. He clawed at the earth, thumping his tail as if to summon an earth power to lift him upward, ripping the dirt. Ash walked to his front, dragging his sleeping back behind him. He crawled back inside, leaning against his thick stone armor.

With a grunt, he lifted his starter's head and put it into his lap. Rhydon rumbled, sending vibrations through Ash's leg, but he did seem more comfortable. Ash took a moment to finish rearranging the both of them, leaning up against his starter's side as best he could.

"Goodnight, bud," he said softly. Rhydon shuffled his tail before fully relaxing, scarlet eyes closing. Ash slumped over his friend, resting his head on his forehead. They fell asleep quickly.

xXx

Gale had made good progress with Scorch and Rhydon had taught her the basics of flamethrower, but she was still struggling. No matter how much training she did, her body wasn't built to take hits. The fight with Kangaskhan and the water types had proven that - he wasn't fight with her correctly. At least, not in the way she was going to be at her prime. She needed to hide from her opponents, to confuse them and strike when they least expected it. That normally wouldn't be an issue, as most fire types could learn smokescreen, which covered the entire field in thick oily fog.

But not Scorch.

The vulpix line couldn't learn the move smokescreen because of their inner flame - anything that came down their throat was instantly purified by the heat and they weren't able to keep the chemicals needed for the smoke alive long enough to leave their mouth. At most, they could create a thin stream of smoke, but that wouldn't be able to hide Scorch well enough for a proper hunting method.

But Ash knew that the vulpix line was built for hunting under the cover of darkness and the landscape, whether on the most tropical route in Kanto or on the slopes of volcano. The growlithe line, often considered the counterpart to the vulpix line, was built for physical, fire-only attacks. Scorch, however, could access the Trio and other elements, which means Ash didn't need smokescreen.

Instead, he looked up his notes on Scorch.

The vulpix was strictly a carnivore, and her food reflected it. Magikarp were mass bred for purposes like feeding predators and, as such, most of her food was made of up the water type along with other vitamins and things. But the important thing here was that magikarp were full of a specific chemical called iodine.

Iodine actually survived Scorch's inner flame, as it was pulled into the many so-called 'tunnels' before her stomach that she absorbed vitamins into. It was used by the thyroid gland to produce hormones, but she didn't use all of it. The important thing about iodine was that it burned purple or, in high enough qualities, almost black.

The problem was that Scorch couldn't simply _ask_ her thyroid gland to release her latent supply of iodine into her inner flame to burn. But she could, theoretically, draw it out and even learn how to produce it through sheer energy alone if it was connected to a move. The good thing was that iodine, in too large of amounts, was poisonous. Not overtly so, but large enough amounts could even lead to death, though it was rare. A far more common consequence would be nausea, weakened heartbeat, and an almost burning sensation.

Ash grinned as the dots came together. Scorch could learn the TM toxic - which he knew for a fact would be available in the poison town of Fuschia - and, if he supplemented her diet well enough to start producing the massive quantities of iodine needed, she could theoretically use it to create a burning purple-black flame similar to but far more dangerous than smokescreen.

"Wraith?" He called. The haunter hummed in the back of his head, deep baritone echoing even as he focused on harnessing the energy needed for dark pulse. Karma sagged once he stopped, barriers dropping tiredly. "Come over here for a second. You too, Scorch."

She yipped curiously as she padded over. Scorch knew he had been working on finding her a new strategy for attack, though she hadn't been able to learn too much about it before he sent her off for training. From behind her, Gale flew down to a perch, almost instantly tucking his head under his wing and resting. Agility was taking a lot out of him.

"Wraith, release a bit of smog, will you?" The haunter hissed, holding one of his disembodied hands out. A bit of his ectoplasmic skin thinned just enough to release a trail of dark purple gas, thickening immediately after to avoid losing all of the gas giving him a stable form. Scorch eyed it warily, all too aware of the poisonous training Ash had been putting his team through.

Ash pulled out his pokedex, sliding it over to the record function. He heard the low chirp that showed it was active, pointing it toward the slowly dissipating fog of poisonous gas. Once he was sure he was going to get it all on camera, he stepped back to let his pokemon come forward.

"Set it on fire," he said, gesturing toward her, before adding almost as an afterthought, "Wraith, get back."

Wraith didn't argue on this one, drifting far enough back to slide partially into Ash's shadow, though he was still out enough to see. Scorch yipped, tails rising before she released a blast of fire toward the gas.

It immediately exploded, releasing a cloud of thick grey smoke. Scorch barked and blurred backward with quick attack, eyes wide and ears flat as she took in the writhing mass of smoke slowly rising toward the sky.

Ash could see through it with only a little difficulty, but Wraith's diet wasn't nearly the same as Scorch's. When she was able to implement iodine with such a powerful move as toxic, the cloud would be almost impossible to see through.

He pulled up the recording and watched it at half speed. For only a moment, in the middle of the cloud of gas, there was a flicker of purple flames. Scorch would be able to learn how to harness them to the point where she could possibly mix them with will-o-wisp, creating a poisonous enchanting flame.

"Oh yeah. We can use this."

xXx

Ash grinned, looking up at the wide gates that marked the entrance to his next city. Fuschia stood tall in front of him, almost purple hues glimmering from the sun's harsh gaze. His next gym battle awaited.

Rhydon rumbled next to him, tapping his shoulder. With a grin, he strode forward with his starter at his side.

xXx

 **Hope you enjoy this chapter. It's not as long nor as quality as I would have liked but here it is.** **But Rhyhorn has finally evolved!** **Now, last chapter I received a few concerns about Ash being too heroic. Is he? Yes. My plot demands him to be, but he won't always save the day nor try to.**

 **Also, I've changed the Bide TM from the last chapter. I don't like using different generations so I'm going to mostly stick to Ultra Sun and Moon with some additions from Let's Go for my movesets now, even though Bide was the only divergence I made. The TM is now Rock Polish as you can probably see.**

 **My issue is that I'm bad at adding more to my chapter once I've finished writing them, so I've decided to search for a beta to outline areas that need more work. I know I need to go on Pokemon Betas, but I'd like a few tips from people before I try and find one.**

 **FrostedDusk, unfortunately, is being left behind for A Wordsmith. Apologies, but I chose that name almost seven years ago before I even started on Fanfiction and it's time to move on.**

 **Please enjoy and review!**


	8. To Build Upon

Fuschia City was wide, brilliant, and purple.

The latest of the day had the city turning on their lights, and that lit up the dark sky and made a wide line of contrast between the black overhead and the violet underneath. The sun still had its gaze turned on the city, visible as a burst of orange-white, but even without it, the colors of the city were incredible. Everywhere he looked, they were just _there_ \- fierce and bright and unashamed.

Despite the size of the city, the houses within it were rather small. Each had different colors painted onto the walls, varying shades of blues and purples and greens, and their roofs sloped outward past the buildings themselves. Everything seemed calm, even the wind that had been rip-roaring through the route slowing down and giving him a chance to hear his own thoughts.

Rhydon rumbled by his side, the tip of his tail flicking. He eyed the town curiously, head tilted, and he dutifully lumbered next to Ash when his trainer started moving again. All of them were tired and it was late - it would be best to sleep the night off before challenging Koga.

This time, the Pokemon Center seem almost muted, despite its warm orange and whites. The wide, tall roofs of the surrounding buildings cast a shadow over its glass top, letting the grey swallow the path up. Rhydon rolled his eyes but accepted his recalling - while he could fit through most doorways, that didn't mean it was easy, and Ash kind of assumed that Nurse Joy didn't want a six-foot tall ground type stomping all over her Pokemon Center. He slipped the pokeball back onto his waist and walked inside, heading straight for the desk.

Nurse Joy smiled warmly at him. "How was your journey?"

"Good," he said noncommittally, handing his pokeballs over. "I think they're mostly okay - the sealeo has a burn over his left whisker though that won't heal, though." He hadn't yet used Tide in an official battle with other trainers yet, but Scorch had started to help him dodge ranged attacks.

"Whiskers are rather delicate. They'll take longer to heal because they're connected to so many nerves, but I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. I'll give a potion injection just to be safe."

"Thanks." He turned to walk away when his attention was caught by the side of a tall, lanky boy sitting in the Pokemon Center, flipping through a thin magazine. He recognized him. "Derrick?"

The boy looked up and made eye contact. "Hey, Ketchum. You here for the badge?"

"Yeah. I haven't challenged Koga yet, but I'm planning to tomorrow. What about you? Have you already won it?"

Derrick scoffed, setting the magazine down. "Of course. I only needed to use two pokemon. Sandslash and my newest edition." His smirk was proud. "Koga was weak compared to them. I'm only here for the Safari Zone, really. He wasn't worth my time."

Ash perked up at the sound of such a strong pokemon - he wanted a real battle, unlike their last one. Rhydon was itching for a fight and Derrick's sandslash had always known what it was doing in battles. "You want a battle? My team should be healed up in time for the gym challenge tomorrow."

"Why?"

He hadn't expected that. Derrick's face was full of honest confusion. "I'd like to test our strength against each other again. Last time it was only a one v one - now both of us have new pokemon and it should be a lot more entertaining than last time," he offered.

"But I've already beaten you."

Ash blinked. "Well, yeah, but that was my newest pokemon. Now I think we could have a real battle."

Derrick flapped his hand, already going to pick up his magazine again. "Ketchum, you're getting upset that I beat you. Don't keep trying to get me to battle you - you already lost. Move on."

The obvious dismissal sent Ash back to the other side of the Pokemon Center. They hadn't ever been friends, but Ash had thought he knew the other Pallet Town native well enough to know what he wanted.

Apparently not.

xXx

The next morning dawned bright, and once he had gathered his pokemon from their various sprawled positions around his room, they were en route to the gym. Gale flew overhead - he probably wouldn't be in today's fight, though Ash hadn't quite told him yet - to stretch his wings in preparation, Scorch by his feet and Rhydon at his side. Wraith was in his shadow as always and both Karma and Tide were in their pokeballs.

Rhydon, Karma, and Wraith were going to be the main players in this match. That had been his lineup from the last gym battle, but they all had the advantages he wanted to have a tighter control over this match.

The gym was large compared to the buildings around it, but it wasn't much when Ash thought of the others he had seen and fought in. It was a clear, bright purple, sharp against the olive and turquoise on either side. He liked it. There was a simplicity that none of the other gyms he had been in had, a kind of elegance that came from the fact there wasn't much of anything else added to it.

Fuschia City was one of the most isolated cities in Kanto, and it showed. Despite sea access and a gym, they thrived in the quiet of their own boundaries.

He pushed the door, recalling his team before the wide wooden door had even begun to creak open. It was a bit like he hadn't gone inside - the lights there were warm and specifically altered to look like sunlight, yellow bulbs humming softly in every corner. There wasn't a desk but instead an open doorway at the opposite side of the room. Feeling out of his element, he squared his shoulders and marched through the room.

Through the doorway was the battlefield. Wide and made of stone, it was the kind of empty flatness he had seen with Surge. Enormous windows lined the walls, and there were still those sunlight bulbs that made the area even brighter than before. The moment he walked through, he could see the gentle shimmering of the air that spoke of a psychic barrier coming up. It surrounded the entire field.

On the opposite side stood Koga. He was in clothing the same color as his gym, rigged in a way that covered him in multiple layers that didn't seem to have a beginning or an end. A red scarf, narrow, was tied around his neck. Bushy eyebrows seemed permanently narrowed over black eyes.

"Were you just waiting for a challenger?" Ash asked.

Koga inclined his head the barest of an inch. "There are security cameras surrounding the perimeter, and Miss Joy sends me updates of new challengers arriving at the Pokemon Center."

"Ah." That made sense. He hadn't seen the cameras at all when he walked in, but Koga was known to be a master of disguise. Ash pushed his shoulders back even further, trying to portray the same confidence that Surge did. Gary's words on Koga had unnerved him more than he would have liked.

"Either you will leave today with your sixth badge, or you will not." Koga's voice, despite the rasp, was controlled. "My daughter, Janine, will serve as referee."

There was the hiss like escaping gas and when Ash looked over, there was a girl standing there in a cloud of fading smoke. She didn't look much older than him, clad in black clothing, and despite the similar carve to her face and Koga's, there was an excitability in her eyes that didn't match the cool slates of Koga. She looked like the type to bounce.

Ash wasn't judging, but he was a little concerned about her ability to referee.

"I'm Janine," she introduced herself. "Good luck with my father. Poison types are hardier than most people believe, and you can't bust through here with sheer power alone."

"Janine," Koga warned, eyes narrowed. She sighed but straightened again, oblivious to Ash's inner plight.

Security cameras. He had had his whole team out in front of the building for moral support, and they had all most likely been seen. If Koga had been watching - when he didn't doubt the man had been - at least a good chunk of his surprise would be gone, while he was still in the dark.

"This will be a four vs four and I will throw first. Arbok! Serve me well!"

The hissing snake that emerged from the pokeball was large and knew it. It bared fangs as long as Ash's fingers and rattled the end of its smooth tail. Ash guessed it was thirteen feet long, smaller than the one he had faced near Vermillion, but it was sleeker, most likely faster.

Karma hadn't done very well the last time she faced one of these and while Wraith had fared well, Ash didn't want him to face one that looked so much faster. Arbok were mainly physical and poison moves.

Rhydon slammed onto the field hard enough to make the ground quake. He rumbled his arrival, claws clicking against his others and tail thumping against the ground.

Koga didn't seem very surprised, which only served to make Ash annoyed. Rhydon didn't like the lack of awe at his entrance, narrowing his eyes and spinning his horn. The thrum of rotating stone-keratin filled the air, accented by the crackle of electricity. Rhydon had gotten far too attached to letting a shock wave charge in the interior of his primary horn, though Ash could admit it looked intimidating. Yellow flashes emerged from the tip as it slowly spun.

Janine swiped her gloved hand downward. "Arbok vs rhydon, begin!"

"Arbok, test its defenses with poison sting. Avoid getting close." His orders were cool, but his eyes were narrowed. Ash didn't blame him. Rhydon was a formidable foe.

"Box it with widespread, shockwave, horn attack." He kept his hands by his sides, trying to mimic Koga's relaxed position.

Rhydon rumbled, lifting one of his legs and thumping it against the ground. Earth trembled and wrenched up from the ground, surrounding him in an orbit of circling tan. Arbok started to slither around the circle, tongue flicking out constantly beneath narrow black eyes. Its hood flexed outward, revealing a snarling face alit with orange and red. Rhydon growled at the attempt to intimidate him and launched the rocks.

Arbok did its best, curling around most of it, but the wall going toward it was too much to dodge. Several solid hits around its midsection and it was blown back, mouth open in a hiss, and Rhydon had enough time to finish charging up the crackling electricity and launch it.

The poison type was thrown viciously back, leftover lightning crackling over its scales. It wasn't enough to paralyze it, but it was strong enough to throw it back. Arbok hissed, trying to fight off the pain, and Koga's shout shook it out of its jerky motions enough to let it dodge Rhydon's charge for horn attack. He rumbled annoyedly, turning around to face the snake, only to be met with an array of thin poison barbs.

Most bounced harmlessly off his armor. The few that didn't were lodged in his stone-keratin, but they hadn't managed to get past it. He crushed them with a claw and snarled. Arbok wasn't advanced enough to make them get past his armor, but they had still managed to stick into him.

Koga hummed. "Acid spray and iron tail."

"Earth power!"

Though he couldn't see his starter's face, Ash liked to imagine he had grinned.

Arbok opened its mouth and released an untold amount of purple sludge, immediately sending Ash's noise crinkling from the awful stench. As it streaked through the air, the ground buckled beneath Arbok's still form and threw it a dozen feet in the air.

The air was filled with a wailing hiss. Arbok hit the psychic barriers with a crack and slid to the ground. There was a moment of silence before it slowly reared again, eyes shining with fury.

Rhydon, for his part, was struggling. The acid spray had hit him straight on, covering the majority of his chest. Ash could hear the hiss of the corrosive liquid - whatever the poison type's poison stings had lacked in strength, this well made up for it in toxicity. Rhydon rumbled in pain as they managed to get past the cracks in his armor - it wouldn't take much longer to actually poison him.

Ash narrowed his eyes. "Brush the worst off, then all in. Stomp, horn attack - don't let it use iron tail."

Claws scratched against stone and Rhydon flicked the acid spray to the ground. There was a moment and then his chest glowed, using rock polish to shed the outermost layer of his stone-keratin armor off, forcing most of the poison off his armor. Ash grinned. That was a brilliant use of a relatively flexible move. It bubbled against the dirt, spitting like an arbok itself, but Rhydon paid it no mind, lowering his shoulders and beginning to charge. His bulk showed him down but once he picked up speed, his steps thundered the ground.

Arbok did an admirable attempt at wincing and rushed to the side, but even its speed couldn't carry it far enough. An iron tail smote Rhydon right in the face an instant before his horn bored into its hood, stabbing clear through. It jerked backward but Rhydon's horn prevented it from leaving. When Koga finally recalled the serpent, there was a hole through its scales, weeping scarlet even as it was consumed in the red light of a pokeball. Janine swiped her hand downward, calling Rhydon as the victor of the current match. Ash grinned, but his eyes were narrowed.

That had been a good battle, but it was more along the lines of something he'd expect from another trainer. Arbok didn't have high enough defense to stop a solid hit from Rhydon's horn, even without spinning it, and its dodging skills were decidedly lacking. Koga confirmed his thoughts.

"Arbok is newly evolved and still testing his abilities. Your next opponent should put up more of a fight." Koga nodded to Janine, cracking his neck with the soft movement. "Let us see how you fare against my next ally!" With the air of a man who had done so many times before, Koga pulled the scarf from around his neck upward, wrapping it over his mouth and nose. It made him seem wholly more threatening.

Ash gagged the moment the pokemon was released.

It was a muk, one wider than Rhydon was tall. Thick purple and black and violet wrapped up in a sagging mass of goo. His eyes watered fiercely. When he looked over, Janine had her own scarf around her nose. She gave him a sympathetic look.

"Muk's ability is stench, which gives her a unique presence on the battlefield." Koga's voice was slightly muffled by the scarf, but the rasp was still clear. "A true test for you is how you react under these difficult circumstances. Janine?"

"Begin!"

Rhydon seemed mostly unaffected by the smell, most of it unable to get into the narrow slits in his armor. Muk wouldn't be hurt by most special attacks - physical it would have to be. "Charge! Get in close and try to use horn-" he broke off into coughing, throat burning.

Koga seemed almost amused. "Harden and sludge. Get it poisoned."

Rhydon spun his drill with a whirr that echoed around the psychic barriers. He clawed the ground for traction and launched himself forward with the force of a speeding train, shaking the battlefield. Muk coughed out a glob of purple sludge an instant before Rhydon slammed into it.

Ooze flew everywhere. Rhydon shredded the outer layer of it, only splashing more poison over his weakened body. It had definitely corroded past his armor, even if it was just from the sheer amount of it, and Ash could see it in his slowed movements. But even then he launched punch after punch into the gelatinous body of the poison type, throwing it back even as he charged to meet it. Koga shouted muffled commands but Rhydon didn't let up in his attack, single-mindedly throwing hit after hit in his attempt to knock it out. One of Koga's commands got through. Muk reached up with one roughly formed hand and slammed its fist down Rhydon's throat.

It was ripped off when Rhydon stumbled backward, but Muk seemed less than caring. It watched carefully as Rhydon thrashed, trying to rip the poison out of his mouth, but Muk was the perfect predator to infect its poison in any way possible to its victims. Reforming its arm in a manner eerily similar to Wraith, it slid farther away from Rhydon and launched another blast of sludge.

Rhydon, in a desperate try to both stop the newcoming attack and get rid of the poison, released an enormous flamethrower.

The muk in his mouth was destroyed and so was the sludge in the air. Ash opened his mouth to cheer when he suddenly saw Koga's eyes crinkle in a smile, head tilted somewhat to one side. He searched the field.

All of the poison Rhydon had hit had turned into gas.

"Time limit!" Ash screamed, jerking his starter's attention back to him. His blood ran hot through his veins. "Earth power! Break it up!"

Rhydon bellowed, slamming his foot against the ground. The earth rippled outward, the ground type's control weakened in his pain from the poison. But it was still enough to buckle beneath Muk, bursting upward. For a normal pokemon, it would have thrown them upward, disoriented to the point Rhydon could reach them, but it was a different story for the poison type. This time, the earth power merely stabbed upward through Muk, splitting it into two different parts.

The first hint of actual panic reached Koga's eyes. Muk blinked sluggishly, one eye on the opposite of the room as the other. It sagged even as the halves of its body rebuilt themselves into more stable blobs, a gaping hole separating the two parts.

"Reconnect!" Koga shouted, voice unhindered by the scarf. "Together!"

"Don't let it!" Ash screamed right back, fists by his side. "Crater! Hit the one on the left!"

Rhydon bellowed, jumping into the air as best he could. When he landed, an earth power ran outward, but it didn't attack - instead, it merely buckled the earth beneath the left half, dropping it into a hole nearly five feet deep. It didn't make a sound of protest, being the smaller side and holding less of Muk's mental capabilities. The right, which seemed to be more aware, began to slide toward the left. "Flamethrower!"

The ground type had stopped thinking. He listened only to Ash's command and the thrum of the earth beneath him. Fire exploded from his mouth as if a storm, evaporating the right side's outer layer, destroying some of the poisonous gas in the air but also making more. Ash could see the dark shapes of internal organs moving around in the inner layer of Muk, but there was still too far to go. The flamethrower hadn't slowed it down enough, and soon it would be rejoining its other half, and Rhydon wouldn't be able to finish the fight in his weakened state.

"Just a little more, Rhydon!" Ash felt as tight as a bowstring. "Charge and horn attack! Finish this!"

Rhydon roared in pain, every breath he took in burning with the sharpness of poison. He staggered even as he ran, horn crackling with energy, but his charge was enough to spear him directly through the outer layer of the slime. Muk screamed, its mouth opened impossibly wide, as actual pain reached through the dull nerves it had. There was a click and then it disappeared, recalled into its pokeball.

It was strange to look at what was counted as Muk's essence. Both halves disappeared, along with some of the sludge on the ground and even a little of the gas in the air, but there was also a large amount still left on the ground that Ash could see no difference between that and the stuff that had been recalled into the pokeball.

"Muk secretes a layer of toxins over her outermost layer as she battles, and that is what you see is left behind," Koga said, pulling his scarf off of his face. Disappointment in himself seemed to be on his face. "Rest assured, while your attack has damaged her, she will not be injured permanently."

Ash nodded, but his attention was elsewhere. In the middle of the room, Rhydon was hunched over, horn twitching on and off in its spinning. Thick, hoarse breaths rang through the battlefield and when he tried to pull himself fully up, his leg nearly buckled beneath him.

He clicked the recall on his pokeball. His starter, as strong as he was, couldn't handle the sheer amount of poison running through his veins. The ground and rock typing was the only thing that kept him going as long as he did, as well as the frequent flamethrowers burning away the poison in his mouth. But Nurse Joy would have to pump him straight full of antidotes for a couple of days to fully purge the remnants from his system. He whispered his thanks to the dented pokeball, earning a thrum of heat before it fully turned cold. Rhydon would need all the rest he could.

Janine announced it, swiping a hand down.

Koga nodded his head. "A good choice. Your rhydon was strong, but Muk's poison is just as so. Nurse Joy has a specialized poison for her on hand, and that should assist it to heal faster. However, our battle still commences. I will release your next opponent."

A beedrill appeared on the field.

It was already flying, wings buzzing like the hum of electricity. Twin needles shone like silver in the light, flashing as it held them up. Multifaceted red eyes gleamed, but all Ash could see was the massive conical stinger at the end of its abdomen. It must have nearly six inches long.

A bug type was annoying, and beedrill were fast. They had powerful weapons, even if they didn't have access to the most powerful of moves, and in order for Koga to have one at this level, it had to be very powerful. He needed a fast counter, one who wouldn't be affected by the copious amounts of poisonous gas in the air. After thinking it over for a second, he tossed a pokeball out, whispering a command to the rising shadow in his mind.

Wraith didn't appear when he was released. He stayed in his entirely intangible form, only visible by the slight shifting of the visible poisonous gases, which he made an effort not to move too dramatically. Koga seemed confused - though there had been the red flash of light, he couldn't see the pokemon. Ash couldn't help the wide grin that spread over his face, and he could feel the deep thrum of laughter in his bones. Koga stiffened as the echos reached him.

"Ah. I see."

Janine was still peering at the field, confused, but when Koga gave her a look she swiped her hand down. "Beedrill vs ghost, begin!"

Beedrill was still hovering on Koga's side, eyes flicking around the field. It couldn't see where Wraith was, but it could sense the ghostly energies better. Raising its needles, it made a low buzzing sound, which was surprisingly threatening. Ash heard another low chuckle in the back of his mind - good to know that Wraith was less than scared. He hadn't considered the relatively fragile bug type to be at such a high-ranked gym, but if it had gotten this far, it had to be powerful. He gave his first command. "Daze. Do it quickly, then get back. Attach yourself. Don't let it hit you."

Beedrill's legs were trembling, but it stayed frozen in midair. Koga had trained it well - beedrill were wild, vicious pokemon, and the gym leader had apparently taught it not to move unless given a command. "Pursuit."

Dark energy immediately surged to life over its wings and abdomen, blackening the yellow present. Wraith hissed at the color, waiting for another moment, but he eventually came back to the mortal plane. Koga narrowed his eyes at the sight of haunter but Beedrill sprung into action nonetheless, stinger coming forward into position to stab.

Wraith danced around the hit, hands pressed to his sides before abruptly pulling loose. His enormous tongue snapped out of his mouth and managed to catch Beedrill on its wing, immediately sending a wave of ghostly energy through its exoskeleton. It jerked, legs twitching, and that gave just enough of an opportunity for Wraith to lock eyes. Soft pink glowed through the crimson and Beedrill sagged in midair, its clawed toes scratching the ground as it sank to the earth. Maybe the creepiest thing was that it didn't close its eyes - beedrill didn't have eyelids, and so slept with their eyes open.

It was that simple fact that made Wraith take so long to react, waiting patiently for Beedrill's eyes to close, that gave Koga enough time to make a move. The man's eyes crinkled, the slightest of smiles building beneath it. "Sleep talk."

Beedrill snapped upright as if a puppet on strings, wings buzzing jerkily. Wraith flew backward, eyes wide and fangs bared, but by then Beedrill had already raised its needles and swung them forward, gleaming with pale green energy. Twineedle.

Wraith howled as he struck, more out of surprise than pain, but he recovered quickly and dropped to the ground, fading into a shadow and racing away. Beedrill lunged clumsily, still reaching out with its needles.

"Sleep talk," Koga repeated, voice calm. Beedrill's needles abruptly lost their glow, fading into a dark purple. Something poisonous. It jerked forward like it was being pulled and surprised Wraith, managing to jab its needles forward. Wraith sacrificed his hands, both of which exploded under the attacks. He reformed them an instant later and used shadow punch, eyes still wide with surprise at the sleeping pokemon.

Not for much longer. The shadow punch snapped Beedrill's head to the side and Ash could see when it woke up, wings switching from uneven flapping to an invisible buzz. It hissed and spat, raising its needles, but Koga clicked his fingers and it immediately flew back to his side, waiting tensely.

Ash waited as well, letting Wraith fully recover from the attack and drift back to his side. Beedrill was still occasionally twitching from lick, though being asleep had knocked the worst of it away, and he wanted to see what Koga would do. He probably wouldn't fall for daze again, but a wave of dark pulses could-

"Solar beam."

Ash gaped. Koga had said it so casually, but Beedrill's eyes flashed with barely-restrained hunger. It raised its two needles, holding them on either side of its angular mouth. Highly advanced pokemon could just fire the dangerous attack, but it seemed Beedrill still had to stabilize it with its glowing needles. WIth how many windows were in the room, the ball of throbbing green energy formed quickly.

"Get away!" Ash screamed.

Wraith jerked at the voice, but he didn't look back at Ash. His bloody eyes flashed and then he was diving, hands absorbing into his body to avoid slowing him down. A nearby shadow of the railing stood just inside the battlefield, and Wraith waited no time getting into it. His spines had just faded into the black by the time an emerald beam carved a hole straight through the shadow.

The solar beam was too powerful. The shadow exploded and Wraith along with it, wispy purple-black gas drifting softly into the air. Beedrill sagged as the energy drain hit it, but it knew the battle wasn't over yet. Ghost types could survive a lot, but Ash was a little less sure. That solar beam had been strong, and Wraith hadn't been hit with anything like that before.

Slowly, the gases began collecting. Beedrill hissed and snapped off a poison sting, but it passed cleanly through the gas. It didn't get close yet, watching the spiraling gas.

Wraith took a horribly long time to reform. His eyes emerged first, half open and smaller than usual. Even when he fully reformed, he was tiny and looked exhausted. He wasn't even able to form his hands, so drained of energy as he was.

Ash bit his lip, but Koga didn't give him the chance to come up with a strategy. "Pursuit, twineedle. Finish this."

"Shadow ball!"

Wraith hissed, drawing himself up as fully as he could in his smaller body. A blob of shadowy energy formed between his fangs, crackling with grey lightning, but he didn't fire it. Beedrill began to flicker again with black and flew forward, jerking its abdomen forward, but Wraith didn't make a move.

He heard a soft touch from the shadow in his mind, whispering words in a voice he couldn't seem to remember after it spoke. Ash wanted to fight it but the voice was already fading, energy drained. A plan formed, built half from him and half from the haunter on the battlefield. Wraith launched the shadow ball, which exploded in Beedrill's face. It hissed and spat, but its charge was thrown just enough off course that Wraith was able to drop to the side and dodge it. Ash steeled himself.

"Explosion!"

Koga jerked, eyes flying wide behind his cool exterior. "Beedrill! Retreat!" Ash could hear Janine shouting commands in the distance, and could feel the psychic barriers protecting the gym grow in strength, becoming a visible wavering wall. It grew thick enough that Ash could barely see what was going on inside the battlefield, just vague shapes moving beyond the pink haze. His last vision was of Koga's furious face across the battlefield, eyes narrowed and mouth open.

Minutes passed. Koga's confusion was obvious from across the field - there had been no surge of heat and light, no incredible _boom_ to signify the move that put his own pokemon's life on the line, no resulting wail of Beedrill.

Ash let Wraith's humor dance in the back of his mind and smiled.

Eventually, Janine took a chance and commanded the psychic pokemon of the gym once again, letting the barriers fade back to the clear they had been before. When the haze was gone, it was clear what had happened.

Wraith floated over the downed Beedrill, bloody eyes bright as he cackled inside Ash's head. Beedrill was collapsed against the ground, grey lightning flashing over its veined wings. Ash guessed it had taken two or three shadow balls to fully knock it out, but once it had been told to retreat, it had given Wraith full access to its back, and that had ended the match.

Koga's sharp eyes flashed over the battlefield even as he recalled his pokemon. "A ruse."

Ash nodded. "I knew you'd panic if I called for explosion, and that would give Wraith enough time to recover and take on Beedrill. That hyper beam really took a lot out of him."

The gym leader nodded his approval. "A good strategy. I do hope your haunter cannot actually use explosion, or you arranged this beforehand?"

"He can use it, but he was able to reach out to me," Ash explained. "I have a psychic type, and that's opened up my mind to Trio pokemon, and he was able to get the basics of his plan over." He raised his voice. "You did great, Wraith, but I'm going to recall you."

The haunter hissed, raising his spines, but it remarkably tame compared to his usual fights. He faded from sight even as he was recalled, recovering in the ghosty state he came from.

"For what it is worth, Ash Ketchum, you have a mind for battling," Koga murmured, clicking the release on his pokeball. With a flash of red, an ariados appeared on the battlefield.

It was large and healthy. Bright red and black, yellow and purple over its numerous limbs, it clicked its mandibles together and scuttled closer to Koga's side. It watched him through wide purple eyes.

Ash narrowed his eyes. Fast, dangerous, but fragile. Much like a beedrill, except without the advantage of height. A grin split his features. After the battles of before, it was nice to have a perfect pokemon to pick.

Scorch appeared with a howl, five tails curling above her head. She almost turned to Ash before catching sight of Ariados, a snarl escaping her throat. The long leg pokemon hissed back, clicking against the ground with its clawed legs. It jabbed its horn upward, but stayed still.

Koga had a softer expression on his face. "Ariados, night shade and venom drench. Get it poisoned."

A beam of shadows snapped across the field, catching Scorch in the lower front leg even as she tried to dodge. She yelped, jumping backward, and only barely managed to dodge the three next attacks. Ariados spat them one after the other, even as it built up a glob of poison. Koga clicked his fingers, and the poison type launched two more night shades to box Scorch in before releasing the wave of toxins.

Scorch, under Ash's command, let herself be hit by one of the night shades.

It struck her on her side from where she had positioned herself, throwing her back just enough that the venom drench missed her. Koga's eyes darkened from across the field - Ariados was far from a ghost type and so its night shades were little more than mild attacks, while its venom drench would have weakened Scorch greatly. Ash was playing it on the more dangerous side of things, letting her get hit, but he also wasn't letting Ariados do anything to her except for a few minor hits.

"Heat wave."

Ariados scuttled backward, clicking claws against the ground, but Scorch merely walked forward, keeping her tails aimed solidly forward as she padded around the still-hissing venom drench. Even as it pressed itself against the wall on Koga's side, she kept getting closer, and the heat wave hit. It hissed in pain, unable to flee.

Koga barked another command. "Agility!"

The poison type blurred into action, running through the flames in order to escape the worst of it. When it emerged on the other side, its exoskeleton was heavily damaged, blackened and dusted in soot. It carried one of its legs awkwardly, a burn scorching the joint. Scorch cut off the heat wave, turning to face it with a low growl rumbling in her chest.

"Toxic thread!" A hint of frustration had entered Koga's voice, which was exactly what Ash wanted. Scorch, while not the perfect counter, was about as close as he could get, and both of them knew what to do.

Ariados spun around, its spinneret opening up and releasing a burst of shining purple string. It launched nearly a half a dozen of them, all gleaming with potent poison that would trap whatever it hit.

Ash couldn't help the grin that spread over his face. "Scorch, light 'em up."

Ariados barely had a moment to land the toxic threads over her before she was firing off five precise embers, landing neatly on the exposed threads. Poison dripped onto her, sinking into her pores slowly, but they also acted as an inflamor for her fire.

Koga's eyes closed as the toxic threads burst into flames while still attached to Ariados. The spider shrieked, its sensitive internal organs being burned, and collapsed against the ground. It twitched, hurriedly detaching the toxic threads, but the damage was done.

The gym leader sighed, dropped his head, and recalled Ariados once it had finished twitching. The last remaining toxic threads popped and crackled in the silence as they finished catching fire, but the vulpix had positioned herself far enough away she wasn't affected by their last hurrah. Scorch barked her approval, slapping her tails against the ground. Ash let her celebrate for a few more seconds before recalling her as well. Nurse Joy needed to check over the whole team.

Janine's eyes were wide but she still announced the match. "Victory to challenger Ash Ketchum!"

He still didn't know how they knew his name.

"You have done well." Koga stepped forward, psychic barrier melting away with his movements. The psychic pokemon must have been watching, but Ash could only assume it was invisible. "Your team was strong and your strategies well-made. For that, you have earned yourself and your team the Soul Badge."

Koga snapped his fingers at Janine, who came trotting over. From a silken pouch at her hip, she pulled out a pale pink heart, divided in two. She placed it ceremoniously in Ash's outstretched palms, a wide grin on her face. "There you go, Ash! Great job!"

Her father sighed but didn't say anything. Janine kept the smile on her face even as she bowed to Koga and walked out of the room, purple scarf snapping behind her as she moved. Koga sighed again but turned to Ash with a perfectly calm expression. "If you should return to Fuschia City, I would welcome a rematch. Are you to head to the Safari Zone?"

"Maybe." Ash shrugged. "I did just catch a new pokemon and I sort of have my hands full trying to train him. Maybe when I come back for that rematch."

A smile broke over Koga's face. "I await the day." His gaze slid outward. "But for now I must heal my pokemon and return to training. The next time you return, you will not find such an accessible target to face."

Ash grinned. "I'll be ready."

xXx

He scanned the card once more. Malva's business card was simplistic, just her name, occupation, and work number. Ash took several pictures on his pokedex just in case he lost the card - he was _not_ losing the chance to possibly talk to Malva Pichira.

Her handwriting was legible but not neat, spiky and sharp in a way that matched her clothing. Fergus' number was written over the back along with his name, and a quick question to Nurse Joy had told him where his boat was located. Fuschia City didn't have city access to the sea, but on a short path near Route 19, he could find the port.

It was a short trip. Rhydon kept him company, chest still tender from the poison and having extra vitamins to help purge the remnants from his blood. Gale flew overhead, still annoyed at his lack of use in the gym battle, and Karma was by his side. Scorch and Wraith were still in the Pokemon Center, though Nurse Joy hadn't been worried. Rhydon had only been released because he needed exercise to pump the blood through his body, allowing the chemicals to work faster on getting rid of the poison, although battling was strictly out of the question.

Route 19 was wide and covered in foliage, seemingly carved out of the center of a jungle. It was still a rather tame thing, but he guessed it was only so well kept because of its close proximity to Fuschia City. He ran into a couple of other people, but they weren't trainers - just regular city-goers on their way to the trade center or the Fuschia Trade Port.

Barely thirty minutes away and he was greeted to the sounds of people once again. The hustle and bustle of port, and immediately the smell of magikarp hit his nose, along with spices. With Rhydon holding away the last of the branches, Ash emerged into the docked area.

The spices were stronger now. A fierce tang. He guessed they were from Hoenn, which made sense. Lots of ships came from Hoenn ever since they had emerged as one of the lands greatest trading areas.

He couldn't help the grin that spread over his face as he took in the dock. Only a few areas were actually covered with wooden boards, the rest free with golden sand. It had three large docks extending out into the bay, pillars made of a sturdy stone he couldn't place. Dozens of places for ships to dock were all over the Port. He was reminded fiercely of the Vermillion Harbour, just on a smaller scale.

Pokemon flew overhead, mainly large flying types. They were used as a defense for the large ships, as well as the numerous water pokemon he could see, though they weren't the only ones. Ash guessed he had just missed a shipment coming in - people were commanding a series of the machop line to haul boxes over to a clear section of wooden boards. They'd be transported by the waiting kadabra once they were all ready. On the dock, a boat was strapping up to leave. He could tell it had been a Seagallop before - it had the distinctive red stripes over the side and the bulk - but the name had been painted over, now proudly bearing _The Gyarados' Tooth_. A rather detailed picture of a gyarados' maw was detailed over the front, wide scarlet eyes glaring balefully over the bay.

Ash straightened his shoulders and marched up the dock. Rhydon thudded next to him, but the dock was expertly made - it didn't so much as creak when the bulky ground type stepped on it. He stepped around a machoke carrying a wooden box and stood near the entrance of the boat. Ash skidded his feet against the ground, looking around and pretending he knew what he was doing until someone from the ship noticed him.

First impressions were what counted. Ash sucked in a deep breath, trying to pin one last strand of hair behind his Indigo League hat. He had washed these clothes twice before Nurse Joy kicked him out of the laundry room and brushed his teeth double that - whatever captain that had been recommended by _an Elite Four member_ was bound to be high profile.

The sailor was heavily tanned, wearing a blue shirt with the sleeves cut off and thick cargo shorts. He was well past a five o'clock shadow and his hair was untamed, but there was a grin on his face. "What're ya doin'?" His voice was thick and raspy.

"I was told to talk to Fergus Umio."

"That'd be me." Fergus scratched at his jaw. So far, this conversation was not going how Ash had planned. "Who sent ya?"

"Malva Pichira. I caught a sealeo recently but I don't know how to train it, and she said I could pay you to help me train it."

Fergus laughed. "Malva, eh? She'd be one to pawn ya off on me. Yeah, I could train your sealeo, but it wouldn't be cheap. My next stop is Pallet Town, so that'd give ya 'bout two weeks on board. We're talking three thousand, maybe more if your sealeo puts up a damn fight."

Ash sighed. Expensive, but he needed it. Teaching a pokemon to influence the weather was not an easy task and training water types who were much more used to the waves and currents than land required skills he didn't quite have yet. It would be worth it. "Do you accept Trainer ID?"

"Do I accept-" Fergus dragged a hand over his chin. "Kid, that's the only way ya trainers know how to pay. If I didn't accept it, I'd never get paid. But before ya start shelling out your life savings, are ya prepared to travel wit' me? The sea's been having a right tantrum recently - a warm front's been coming through and tossing everything into a mess. Lots of pokemon are being disturbed, probably helped cause that mass of water types that attacked Vermillion. Let me guess - that's where ya caught the sealeo?"

Ash nodded. "How dangerous?"

Fergus shrugged. "Nothin' bad. Coupla waves and ticked off serpents, but we can handle them. It's just not going to be the same sort of pleasure ride ya'd get from an actual Seagallop. Ya still up for it?"

"Yeah." He nodded again.

"Come back the day after tomorrow, ya can pay then. We're leavin' in the morn so be as early as ya can. What's your name?"

"Ash Ketchum."

Fergus nodded, a grin spreading over his face. "See ya in two days, kid. We'll see how your sealeo matches up then." His gaze twisted upward. "If your rhydon can be compared, this should be an interesting trip."

Ash grinned and offered his hand. Fergus took it, his grip much stronger than Ash's despite his best attempts to match it. Then the man leaped back onto the boat and shouted to one of his crew, commanding something Ash didn't hear.

He marked down the appearance of the boat in his mind and turned back to the dock. Rhydon thumped on claw on his shoulder, rumbling encouragingly. The ground type had appreciated the compliment, even if he eyed the tossing sea with contempt. He didn't like the water on principle, but the attack in Vermillion had only hardened his dislike. Ash hoped the trip might help him get over that.

Dodging another blank-faced machop, he walked down the dock with his starter. Time to find where to buy that toxic TM.

xXx

Ash's account was going to be weeping. The toxic TM hadn't cost too much, though it was still a little more than most TMs were, but the issue came when he subtracted three and a half thousand from the remaining total. Not a lot left.

Rhydon was itching for a fight, and he wanted to try and release some of his team's stress before the trip. The dock always brought a goodly amount of trainers and the Safari Zone should have enough trainers to get his fix.

There were a lot of trainers with the nidoran lines. Many came from the Safari Zone and surrounding routes, though he never saw a fully evolved one. Tauros and persian were just as common, and a few of the more exotic pokemon from the depths of the Safari Zone. He kept a grin on his face, fighting them mainly with Gale and Scorch. The lithe fire type had been growing more and more aggressive as of late and Ash was hoping for that to come into play soon.

"And flame charge!" He grinned. Scorch gave a prideful bark and reignited her fur, flames flickering off her form like the sun. The persian yowled, extending claws enhanced by shadow, but Scorch just zipped around it and nailed it across the back. It fell with a whine of pain and didn't get back up.

The trainer sighed, recalling his pokemon. She had put up a good fight, but her persian just didn't have the agility yet. "Nice job."

"Thanks, you too." Ash accepted the prize money, kneeling to pet Scorch, but she hadn't deactivated flash fire. Her eyes gleamed with her internal flame. When he turned to her, she yipped loudly, flaring her tails behind her like a cascade. Fire burned at the tips, fierce and growing.

"Yes!" The other trainer jerked but Ash was too concentrated to notice. Gale was released in a flash of light, squawking. He tucked his wings by his sides to avoid hitting the small crowd of milling trainers, turning to Ash.

"Go to the forest and get branches, dry ones from the ground. As many as you can carry and as fast as you can." Gale's beady black eyes slid downward to Scorch, who had started to burn the ground beneath her paws. With a shriek, he threw himself into the air and immediately took off for Route 15.

Another trainer had noticed what Ash was going through and had started to push the confused others back, understanding what the vulpix was about to do. Ash was thoroughly grateful but he didn't have time to thank them, releasing Rhydon for protection from the blaze. There wasn't enough space to have his full team out, but he could show her off when this was finished. Rhydon rumbled, flicking his tail back and forth and running a perimeter. Scorch whined, kneading at the ground as her internal flame built up stronger and stronger.

A shadow crossed overhead, and then Gale was diving. He dumped a bundle of sticks in front of Ash, landing smoothly on the ground opposite of Rhydon. Gale spread his wings, providing a wide barrier for Scorch to hide behind. Rhydon his best to match it, spreading out his arms and rumbling at anyone who got too close.

Ash knelt in front of Scorch, offering one of the sticks. There wasn't a fire nearby, like what he had done last time, and so branches would have to do. She lunged forward, canines slicing through wood and scarfing it down. Ash could feel sweat prickle on his brow.

She ate through the pile of branches in record time, barely visible beneath the glow of white-yellow fire. Ash backed up, halfway crouching behind Rhydon in order to avoid the heat, but in an instant, it was gone. Scorch coughed out a thin plume of smoke and shook herself. Ash wiped the sweat from his face and grinned at her - she was still too hot to touch.

Behind her, six beautiful tails fanned out.

xXx

The morning was far too early. The alarm he had set did almost nothing, and Rhydon practically had to pick him up for him to wake. He had stayed up late last night with Scorch and was now regretting everything.

Nurse Joy gave him a sympathetic smile as he dragged himself out of the Pokemon Center, heading toward Route 19. Rhydon bumped his back frequently to keep him from dozing off.

The dock was still covered in that salty tang as before, and it helped him wake up a little more. The Gyarados' Tooth was docked in the same position, the crew bustling over in various degrees of business. Ash trotted up to it, greeting Fergus as he unsteadily hopped onto the deck.

The numbers in his account clicked down steadily as he swiped his wrist under the scanner, but there was enough and Fergus clapped him on the shoulder. "Welcome aboard, kid. I'll show ya your cabin in a sec, and ya can show me the sealeo once we get goin'."

Ash watched as a couple more people paid, all in varying states of wakefulness. There were maybe fifteen of them in total, which made sense with the ship's size. Fergus gave them each an introduction, turning to Ash last.

"You're the only one who paid me for training, but ya'll get the same treatment as the others. Kitchen always has something cookin', there aren't any meal times but I trust ya can feed yourself. Pokemon over five hundred pounds can't go on the upper deck, but your rhydon should be less than that. Damage anything and ya pay for it. Come along."

The cabin was pleasant. A little smaller than the average Pokemon Center room, but there was a circular window that provided a beautifully close view of the ocean. The waves were tame this close to shore, but Ash could see out, could see nothing but the little line of the horizon.

Rhydon could go in the space between the bed and the wall, as long as he laid down. Scorch on the foot of his bed, Gale perched on the headrest of the bed, Wraith in whatever shadow he chose. Karma would probably float in the corner.

Tide would take up the majority of the floor space most likely, which would make getting up in the morning entertaining. His five feet of length would put his head near Karma, which would be fine if he didn't try and pick a fight. Karma could always box him if needed.

Ash smiled and settled down on the bed to wait. Rhydon joined him, determinedly pushing his head onto the bed no matter how it creaked. His friends could wait a bit. Captain Fergus would most likely be grabbing him soon and for the moment, he just wanted to relax for a little while.

xXx

"He's not bad," Fergus admitted, scratching at his stubble. "Good size, good build, and he's kept up with his grooming. Ya picked a good one."

Tide visibly puffed him, slapping his flippers against the wooden deck and barking. One of the other passengers on the ship gave a curious stare at the sealeo, but quickly turned back to their own thing.

"I don't have a member of the spheal line myself, but I've dealt with plenty. Tons of floes around Hoenn I need to get through every time I travel there, and there are a few walrein bastards that know my ship. My team can handle them." A glimmer of pride entered his voice. "They're tough."

Tide grunted as soon as the attention was off him and Ash sighed. Fergus chuckled, a raspy sound that matched his salty breath.

"So what's giving ya trouble with him? He doesn't want to attack ya and he looks damned ready to train."

Ash looked over at Tide, who was trying to push himself higher and higher up onto the deck. His whiskers twitched in the air. "When I fought him, he managed to use the move hail, but it wasn't in control. Malva had to shut it down herself, even after he was captured. I need to know how to train him both for his other moves and hail."

There was silence as Fergus stared at the ice type.

"Ya could've figured it out over time," Fergus said, eyes narrowed. "It might have taken ya a while to train him, but ya already have two Trio pokemon and it would've been about the same difficulty. Hail could've waited until ya were ready. So why come to me and pay over three thousand to train?"

Ash paused. Why had he done that? If he was really desperate to train Tide, he could have gone to Professor Oak or looked it up online. It came to him slowly. "I've gotten all of the badges I can get on land right now," he admitted. "Giovanni is going to take a long time to build up to and, well, Malva recommended you. I'm going to listen to a member of the Elite Four, no matter which region's she's from."

Fergus snorted. "Damn right ya will. She knows what she's talking about, and I know what I'm doing. We'll get that sealeo of yours ready for land combat by the time we reach Pallet Town, although I hope ya don't use hail too often."

"Thanks." Ash grinned. Tide flicked his tail, eyes narrowed at the lack of attention. Fergus rolled his eyes, cracking his knuckles. He was wearing a white shirt today, sleeves still cut off. Even Tide's freezing breath did nothing to the sailor.

"What other moves does he have?"

Ash frowned, wracking his memory. "Um, defense curl, powder snow, water gun, ice ball, body slam, aurora beam, and headbutt. I've been working on a combo between water gun and aurora beam, as well as one for defense curl and ice ball."

"That's a good start. He's developed enough on his own to get some other advanced moves beside just hail. With the spheal line's bulk, headbutt is a useful tool and aurora beam is always good."

Tide flicked his whiskers, large brown eyes narrowed. His chest stayed puffed out.

"See, you've got a good ice type to start training. The spheal line - along with the seel line - don't have gills like most water types. They have large and developed lungs which allowed them to survive sometimes a day or two without breathing, but they most often live on the surface of the waters. Because of that, they're used to being in the air. Sealeo have large enough lungs and thick enough blubber that it actually cuts into their water storages - which is why they don't have access to hydro pump. They have water gun and brine, but their body won't let them shoot off the massive amount of water needed for that move because of how easily it can deplete them of their needed moisture."

Ash blinked and nodded, trying to absorb it all. He had been wondering why Tide wouldn't be able to learn hydro pump. "Even as a walrein?"

Fergus scratched his stubble. "Yeah. Their increased lung space, however, allows them to have even colder ice attacks." When he was talking, Ash could hear the intelligence that only came from years of experience. The image wasn't decreased when the man spat over the railing into the waves.

Life experience, not book smarts.

"So how are we going to train him?"

"I'm going to test his boundaries for the first coupla days. Ya are going to sit in your cabin and wait until I know what's he can do. A bit of trainin' is fine, but nothing destructive. I'll give word when I'm ready for ya."

Ash bristled. This was his pokemon - he wasn't going to just let any man take over training. Tide could handle himself but that didn't mean he should have to - Ash should be there to help him. He opened his mouth to protest when Captain Fergus popped one of the pokeballs out of his pocket and released one of his pokemon into the waves.

The gyarados reared out of the water with a snarl. Hot breath rolled over the ship, salty and warm enough to make Ash's skin tingle. Its barbels twitched in the breeze, tattered fins around its mouth still gleaming a fierce blue-white. His mouth clicked close.

Tide released a challenging bark, flippers slapping the ground as he spun to face the behemoth of a water type. Fergus grinned and unlatched a little chain near the ledge. With a groan, the railing over the side of the ship opened up and swung to the side. The second he was given an opportunity, Tide propelled himself off the side of the boat and dropped to the tossing waves.

"I know that face, kid. Ya think ya need to protect your pokemon. Don't get me wrong, ya do, but trust me with your sealeo. He's got his heart in the right direction, even if his mind doesn't want to follow it, but Thrasher has dealt with pokemon like that for years. Besides, he's not going to be fighting her. Your sealeo isn't close to ready. My vaporeon is going to be plenty enough of a challenge to start with, and he'll be reining himself in a fair amount. Thrasher is here to make a boundary and scare off any wild pokemon."

Ash didn't have an argument. Tide bobbed to the surface, barking furiously at the enormous gyarados. It leered down at him, scarlet eyes fierce and deepset in its skull, but didn't react to his threat. "That's an apt name," he offered, watching the behemoth of a sea serpent.

Fergus laughed. "She earned it more as a magikarp than now."

"I'll be back tonight," Ash tried. "And-"

"Sealeo'll be healed up and back in your hands by tonight." Fergus grinned. One of the sailors cursed, a loose coil slipping free form his grasp and flapping in the wind. The captain shouted back his own curses and sprang forward to grab at the other end, a released pidgeotto coming in from its perch on the sail to try and help.

Ash took the chance to slip back to his room. There wasn't any chance for Scorch to train with her toxic TM, and he didn't want to give her the knowledge without a chance to practice it. The rest of his team laid or perched or floated in their various sections of the room as Ash pulled out his pokedex and started to flick through his notes. It would be a long day.

xXx

"So, how do you know Malva?"

"I know most all of the Elite Four," Fergus shouted back, ducking under an errate spray of water from Tide. "Mainly those from Kanto and Hoenn. I've transported many of their trainers across more dangerous waters. The champions keep their distance, but I'll wiggle my way into their good graces eventually."

Ash frowned, turning his attention back to the waves next to the boat. Tide was only visible for a few seconds at a time but when he was, it was exhilarating - Current, Fergus' vaporeon, was teaching him all about dodging and how to do it right. Blasts of water that were so powerful they could still attack under the waves went everywhere, seemingly unending, and Tide's chances to attack back were few. He was getting frustrated, but that was what Fergus wanted. The first week was for his own moves, and then the second for land combat, and they were only three days into the first.

"But why would they use you? What about the Seagallop Ferries?"

Fergus rolled his eyes impressively. "I'm not connected to any of the Leagues. I'll keep their secrets if they want. I don't hide that but the Leagues understand I'm not getting trusted with anything too dangerous."

"That makes sense." Ash nodded, though Fergus wasn't looking at him. He was just still amazed by the fact that someone he knew was friends with a member of the Elite Four. It wasn't one of Kanto's, which was a little strange, but Ash didn't exactly hold Will or Agatha over the other region's. Maybe a little. They were the same four people he'd been watching since the moment he was born.

A burst of laughter jerked him to attention. Fergus leaned farther over the railing, a grin splitting his scraggly face. "And here we go."

Tide fully pulled himself out of the water, tail thrashing beneath him to keep his head above the water. His head jerked backward, neck swelling up as a silver glow built behind his fangs. Current stopped his attacks, padding smoothly around the still sealeo. Fergus leaned on his elbows.

"Current knows hail, and he's going to help Tide learn how to focus it. Thrasher is going to break it up before it ever reaches the sky, because having weather conditions while on a boat ain't the best option." Fergus' grin was tangible in his voice.

"But then how are you going to train him?"

He scratched his stubble. "Weather moves are tricky. How do ya suppose ya can use it inside buildings? My golduck is going to build Tide a fake barrier roof to use it in, but for now, he's just gotta make it properly. Gettin' him frustrated is the best way to get him to use the power needed. Look, Current's helpin' him now."

Current barked a command, ears pressed against the white frill around his neck. Tide paused, still holding the energy in his mouth. He barked again, paddling smoothly close in the water. Tide shifted part of his mouth before his brown eyes narrowed. Some sort of perceived insult. Ash sighed just as Tide cranked his head back and launched the hail into the air.

It streaked upward, a gleaming line of silver. Thrasher reared out of the water and launched a blast of fire. It hit the hail and immediately ripped it apart, blowing ice type energy around. Ash felt a chill, at least a moment before the heat from the flamethrower hit him.

Tide roared a challenge to the destructor of his hail and started throwing aurora beams at the gyarados. Thrasher was shifted back by the storm of icy energy, baring fangs as long as Ash's arm, rage flickering in her scarlet eyes. Tide's aim had gotten substantially better over the past couple of days, but his moves still didn't do so much as annoy Thrasher. Tide took that as another challenge, and he closed his eyes, fur shining as the pores in his skin opened up to release ice crystals. Slowly covering himself in ice, he lunged for Thrasher, using his line's signature move of ice ball.

Thrasher pulled her tail out of the water and flung him away. The aqua tail sent him flying almost completely back to the boat, but this time he stayed beneath the water, only visible as a blue blur beneath the tossing waves.

Fergus whistled sharply. Current dropped beneath the waves, wide tail slapping the water before he disappeared. A random burst of energy exploded from the surface. Fergus narrowed his eyes, watching. Thrasher rumbled low in her throat, keeping an eye over the deceptively still water.

"Current'll knock some sense into him. It wasn't a bad hail, but he needs more discipline. Go off and find somethin' ta do. They'll just be doin' dodging practice again. I'll send Carlson ta pick ya up if we're ready to start hail trainin' again."

Ash sighed and nodded his head. It was time for something else he wanted to do anyway. Captain Fergus had given him no reason not to trust the grizzled sailor and Tide could get away if necessary.

Besides, he needed to do some training.

Neither Rhydon or Scorch could practice on the boat. There wasn't exactly a lot of earth available for ground type moves and fire moves were too destructive - the Gyarados' Tooth wasn't one of the fancy liners run by the League that had specific safety measures to let pokemon practice their moves. But those were only on the SS line of ships, which were mainly cruises. Scorch had been using extrasensory in his room as well as iron tail, but she couldn't do much else. Rhydon had been practicing spite, but for the most part, he had just been relaxing. And by relaxing, that meant Ash forcing him to lie on the ground and _sleep_. As his starter, he had been the one constantly by Ash's side, which gave him little time for rest.

But Ash would make him sleep, damn it, no matter how much the ground type whined. Scorch had been set guard over him, and Ash wasn't going to let him out of the cabin room until the end of tonight. He had seen the improvement already - the tension in Rhydon's neck had been decreasing with the passing days, and his eyes were brighter.

While Scorch and Rhydon couldn't practice, that didn't mean the rest of his team couldn't. Wraith had found some corner in the ship and had been working on something he wouldn't let Ash know. All he had been given was a wide, fanged grin and a wagging of a clawed finger. The ghost had had this project for a couple of weeks, and Ash didn't want to stop him. Karma just worked on teleporting from one side of the boat to the other, trying to increase the speed and ease of both. Ash had received more than one annoyed complaints from the other passengers on the ship about issues with gravity around the areas she was training. Though he had scolded her, she didn't seem too chastised.

But it was Gale he was most interested in. The fearow had worked his feathers off in training after his defeat by Gary's pidgeotto; Ash knew it was time to bait him with a secondary prize. Gale, while he hadn't been interested in it at first, had significantly warmed up to the idea.

Carrying Ash, both as a friend and a trainer, was one of the highest honors for flying types. As a rule of thumb, most fliers didn't hang around with others outside of their species, staying with their flocks or being solitary. But to carry another, pokemon or person, on their back showed both their strength and the willpower they had to hold another that weighed nearly as much as they did.

Beside, Ash knew it would look awesome. Gale wasn't large enough to hold him on his back, but that didn't mean they couldn't start small.

He grinned and pulled the pokeball off of his waist, climbing up to the top floor of the boat. It was and more open, with an even higher raised section for the steering cabin. Ash moved to the back of the cabin, exposing a wide-open ocean and powerful breeze. He had only just gotten used to the rocking of the boat but here it seemed more pronounced, and he leaned against the railing to try and regain a bit of his balance.

The fearow shrieked his arrival, taking immediately to the air. His wings beat powerfully and his beak caught the light, reflecting it directly into Ash's eyes. He sighed, reattaching his second pokeball, and waved to grab his friend's attention.

Gale tilted his head to the side, still hovering as best he could. Ash held up his pokedex. "Hey, bud. I think it's time we try something."

The gleam in his black eyes was both heartening and concerning.

xXx

Captain Fergus' golduck stared up at the sky with impassive maroon eyes. Up above, a hailstorm raged.

It was contained within a psychic barrier nearly half the size of the ship itself, forcing the storm to rebound off itself and grow stronger and stronger. Hail thudded against the barrier only to get swept back up in the wind, giving the whole bubble a swirling color of silver-blue. Clouds roiled above.

"It won't be as strong when used in battle, but he's come a fair way since he started. Now," Fergus said, jerking his head, "tell him to shut it off."

Ash whistled, trying to mimic Fergus' sharp tones and coming close. Tide turned to him, brown eyes reflecting the storm above. "Stop it!"

Tide growled low in his throat, still fighting the waves to stay above the water. With a bark, he reared upward and made a peculiar chomping motion, fangs shining.

He had cut the energy connection between him and the storm. Slowly, it began to dissipate inside the bubble, the clouds decreasing and wind retreating to its previous bluster. After a minute or two, the golduck squawked and released the bubble. A wave of cold air spread over the boat, though it quickly faded under the dying sun.

Ash cheered. Tide added his own bark to the sound, and even Current swam forward to chur congratulations to him. It was the first time he'd properly shut off the storm, which was the second most important step in summoning them. He spat an aurora beam in celebration, only barely missing Thrasher's head. Ash guessed it wasn't an accident.

"Thank you," he said to Fergus. The captain waved him off.

"We ain't done yet. He's got a few more days to get it under the wraps and then there's actual battling to be done next - but for now, I'd let him rest. Ya both have a big ol' day tomorrow and it's gettin' late-ish. Go to your cabin and sleep. I'll get ya in the morn."

Ash nodded, quickly recalling his ice type. Gale was pulled back a second later and he sent a shouting thought to both Karma and Wraith. By the time he made it down to his cabin, both were waiting for him.

Tide barked when he was released, beginning to move his tail and flippers before realizing he wasn't in the water. Pride glimmered in his brown eyes as he settled down onto the carpet.

Ash grinned when Tide shot him a look. "Go on, brag about it. You've earned that."

Immediately, the ice type began to bark his story to the rest of the group, slapping the ground and twitching his whiskers fiercely. Ash settled back on his bed, stroking behind Scorch's ears. She purred beneath his hands as she listened, occasionally yipping questions to Tide. When he finished, Rhydon lumbered over and rumbled his congratulations. He had been on the receiving end of Tide's many attempts at hail, and knew how hard Tide had worked to get it working.

Tide puffed up even more. Rhydon was the leader of the team, and any good words from him only made the sealeo feel more powerful. Scorch, not to be outdone, hopped down from the bed and patted him lightly on the forehead with her paw. It was eerily similar to what Ash did when she did well in battle.

Ash felt a little bubble of warmth spread through his chest. "I love you guys," he said suddenly. They looked at him, scarlet and brown and black and grey eyes. "Seriously. You're the best team I could have ever asked for."

Rhydon was the first to move. He carefully stepped around Scorch and walked over to Ash, putting a claw on his shoulder and crooning softly. Gale ruffled his feathers and leaned forward, tapping Ash slowly on the head with his beak and accidentally puncturing his hat even at his softest. Scorch curled up next to his side. Karma floated closer, eyes flashing, and fluffing the pillow beneath Ash. Wraith hummed, rising up from his shadow and baring wide fangs in a mocking grin. Tide was too short to do much, but he reared and blew a chilled breath over the whole group.

Ash tried to wipe the sudden blurriness from his eyes, but the wide smile over his face made up for it.

xXx

Current shook himself, ruffles sending a spray of water everywhere. He padded up the side of the boat, bumping his tail against the railing. Tide watched him with narrowed brown eyes, staying still on the deck. Ash rolled his eyes, placing a hand on the top of the ice type's head as if that would keep him contained. It was time for their first real battle with Captain Fergus, and he didn't want him to be too angry.

On the sideline, Fergus' golduck stood next to Karma. It squawked instructions to her, still looking very bored. Gesturing with one webbed claw, its gem flashed and creating a wavering barrier. With another movement, it surrounded the entire battle area, including the bottom. Karma narrowed her eyes, ears twitching, and raised her shine. A second wall of psychic energy covered the battlefield. They were there to keep the battle from damaging anything on the Tooth, and Wraith was hidden in the shadows of the crew to break up the first if Tide went too far.

He was young, headstrong, and powerful - not necessarily a good combination. With a grunt, he clambered up onto the psychic barrier, which was situated a few inches above the wooden deck. Current leaped daintily onto it, flicking the last remaining water droplets off of his long ears and curling his tail around his front legs. He was the calmest of Captain Fergus' pokemon, in a way the ever-silent golduck wasn't. Ash still hadn't learned its name.

"Current'll handle himself, and you're going to direct Tide in battle. Tell that haunter of yours to come in if he uses hail."

Wraith hissed, the spines on his back rising up. The crewman whose shadow he was in yelped and jumped away, face pale even under the permanent tan. The ghost cackled in the back of Ash's mind and pulled himself out of the ground, hands ripping off of his body to float in front of his mouth. Ash sighed, fixing him with a glare until he subsided and dove into his trainer's shadow.

"Okay Tide, we're going to take it easy today." The sealeo barked at that, still staring at Current. "Your water attacks will make him stronger and ice isn't strong against him, but if you can hit him yourself that'd be the best. No hail. Ready?"

Current yipped as Fergus turned to him, nodding his head and settling into a battle stance. His paws were braced against the psychic barrier, tail curled over his head with the fins extended. The ruff around his neck snapped tight, dark eyes narrowed.

Ash made the first move. "Powder snow. Slow him down."

Tide barked and bitter cold winds poured from his mouth, filled with snowflakes, picking up in streaks of white as a blizzard. Current narrowed his eyes and dodged, tail flicking even as the echo of cold air struck him across the chest. His kind was built for more tropical waters, so he wasn't able to resist the cold as well as other water types, but it still didn't do very much. Ash grimaced.

"Body slam," he said, feeling one of Wraith's jagged claws bump against his leg and calming him down. "Hit him hard.'

Current still did attack, simply blurring into quick attack as Tide slid closer. The sealeo growled his frustration, turning slowly, but he wasn't built for going fast. There was no way he could catch up to the speedy vaporeon.

Unless he could slow him down. "Lance!" Ash shouted. Tide snapped out his maw, firing a high-pressure water gun. Before it ever reached Current, he quickly spat a weakened aurora beam.

The water gun was frozen solid almost instantly, still flying toward Current. The vaporeon's eyes widened comically and he attempted to flee, but the lance of frozen water speared him in the back left leg, puncturing cleanly. Current yelped. Turning to the side, he assessed the damage for a split second, making a decision. He leaned down and grabbed it in his teeth, pulling it and cracking it sharply. With a flick of his tail, the shards of ice floated into the air, even as blood began to slide down his slick fur.

Tide was already charging, sliding across the psychic barrier and seeming to barely be able to control himself. Current used its meager psychic abilities to launch the shards of ice, two of which embedded into Tide's thick skin, but none made it past his enormous reservoirs of fat. Current tried to run, but the wound in his leg made it difficult, and by the time he was turning around the corner of the field Tide was on him.

The ice type reared up, fangs flashing, and smacked Current with his front flippers.

He went flying like a rag doll, tail nearly hitting Tide back when he was thrown through the air. Current hit the opposite psychic barrier with a crack, struggling to his feet a second later. Black eyes narrowed across the field, hackles rising. He spat a couple water guns, each one's aim perfect and rocking Tide back a few feet. Current took advantage and blitzed forward, leaping into the air and still launched forward. He tucked into himself and slammed an iron tail on the top of the sealeo's head.

Tide went rolling, the super effective move breaking the layer of ice crystals he always wore as protection. He yelped, struggling to right himself, but Current was already running right back toward him, water swirling around his finned tail.

Tide reared and slammed his head into Current's.

Ash cheered, pumping a fist as the vaporeon skidded back. The water type wasn't built for such physical combat, but he didn't have the right type of distance moves to hurt Tide enough. Current knew it too, rising to his paws with a snarl building in his throat. Dark eyes flashed over the field.

He began spitting thick clouds of smoky grey-blue, filling the psychic barriers. Golduck grunted as it wasn't able to see inside anymore, its gem beginning to glow as it searched for the opponents. Captain Fergus settled back against the railing, a grin playing over his features. "Current's trying out a new strategy, but I think he's running out of options. You've got good instincts in that sealeo's head," he called out.

The crack of another iron tail ran through the boat, followed by a distinctive pained bark. Ash winced, but Current's haze had done its job - given it was so tightly contained, there was nowhere for it to dissipate until it started to heat up under the sun.

Water splattered against the barriers, exploding on contact. Probably a water pulse, a dodged one at that. Tide barked fiercely and there was a soft thud.

Golduck immediately dropped the barriers, letting the haze begin to trickle outward. Karma followed his example, drifting slightly forward to stare at the field with her ears twitching, though she didn't get too close. Ash trotted forward, eyes searching.

Tide was perched proudly over a struggling Current, who was trying to stand even while pinned underneath Tide's great weight. The sealeo barked again, slapping one of his flippers a bit too close to Current's face. With a sigh, the vaporeon flopped fully over, waiting to be released.

Ash pushed at Tide's side. "Come on, you big lump. Let him out." Tide grunted but did so, shifting his weight until Current was able to pull himself out. The vaporeon immediately went to a corner and began grooming himself, brushing back the upset, spiked fur covering his entire body. Fergus chuckled, earning a narrow glare from black eyes.

Tide stared proudly up at his trainer, whiskers twitching. Two lines of bruises ran over his head from the iron tails and water dripped from his fur, but he seemed very pleased with himself. Ash grinned and scratched at the point where his neck met his body, which was his favourite spot. Tide made a move to try and escape it but soon settled into the petting, a purr rumbling in his throat as he closed his eyes.

"You did great, bud." Tide opened one eye and barked.

xXx

"Gale, if you don't take it slow, I swear to Arceus I'm sending you back to Professor Oak and catching a pidgeot," he shouted up to his pokemon. Gale clicked his beak together and chuffed his own laughter. Ash couldn't see him but he knew his black eyes were shining.

The flying type was enjoying this.

Ash stood on the edge of the railing, clutching at the metal bars like his life depended on it. Gale, overhead, readjusted his talons from where they were wrapped around Ash's shoulders.

He had covered his upper arms in as many pieces of cloth and clothing as he had, including digging out the old spearowry pad, but even with that, he could feel the sharp points of Gale's talons around his armpits. But this was good training.

"Okay, bring me down to the lower deck. Karma, are you ready?"

The kadabra looked less than convinced about this whole training ordeal, but she held out her shine nonetheless and twitched her left ear. _Yes. Is this a good idea_?

Her sentences were much more complete now, even if her voice was still soft and whispery. "When have I ever decided to listen to whether it was a good idea or not? If anything goes wrong, you can catch me. As long as I'm not too heavy."

Both of her ears flattened, but her tail twitched to show her humor. _You look like you weigh more than Leader_.

"Hey!" Ash barely had more than a second to be offended before Gale snapped his wings down and took off.

Immediately, his arms flew upward, leaving him dangling beneath the flying type like a cut puppet. Gale pumped his wings, lifting him fully off the balcony, and slowly began to fly forward. He was working overtime to keep Ash in the air alongside himself, and Ash guessed it didn't look nearly as intimidating as he had hoped for.

Blue flickered over his vision but Karma didn't try and catch him. The lower deck was only fifteen feet away but Ash didn't look down, he looked out.

The ocean stretched before him, aqua and turquoise and navy and covered in more waves than he could hope to count. Gale shrieked overhead and Ash jerked, shoulders popping upward, but then the fearow regained himself and opened his wings fully up, letting the pair of them glide down to the deck. The shadow beneath them looked strange - wide, outstretched wings with a sort of lumpy body beneath. Ash tried to straighten his legs for the landing, clenching his arms tight to his side, and braced.

He still stumbled and nearly fell when he touched down. Gale launched off his shoulders, shrieking annoyedly and landing on the closest railing. He started preening his out-of-place feathers, keeping one black eye on Ash even as he worked. Karma teleported close to him with a softer crack than it had been before she got on the boat, head tilted to the side and twitching her ears.

"Not bad," Ash sighed, rubbing at his shoulders. He twisted his gaze up to meet hers. "How do you think? Was it intimidating?"

Karma gave an honest effort at rolling her eyes, tossing her head slightly, before hovering closer and settling dull claws on Ash's arm. In a flash, he couldn't see her anymore.

A blurry image appeared behind his eyes. Wide brown-cream wings spread out, crowning the sun, with a body hanging beneath. One of the legs was tucked to its chest, the other twitching in slow motion. A beak with a hooked tip flashed in the sun.

And then he was back. His breath heaved through his throat, sharp and painful, but when he looked up, Karma had a smug expression on her face even with the tired lilt of her ears. "Was that me?"

Another remarkable attempt at rolling her eyes. _Of course_.

She teleported away before he could fully start celebrating.

xXx

"Ship ahoy!" A voice bellowed. Ash jerked upright in bed, eyes going wide, before he abruptly set his pokedex to the side and jumped off. Scorch barked as he nearly kicked her but sprung next to him, yipping to wake Gale up. Karma blasted Wraith's hand before he could finish sneaking it up on her, only to dip near the ground as Wraith expanded his aura and weakened psionic bubble.

With a grunt, Rhydon lumbered in between the two of them. Wraith scratched at his plates but ducked into Ash's shadow when electricity sparked over his horn, hissing softly with the distinct sound of his poisonous gases pressing against his ectoplasmic skin. Ash sighed and threw his pillow at the ghost. It passed through his chest and hit Rhydon's shoulder, who barely seemed to notice it.

"Come on. Let's go see what's going on." Various sounds of agreeal traveled quickly, and soon Ash was tromping out of his cabin with a parade of pokemon behind him. As soon as he reached the water, he released Tide back into the water, who dove beneath it immediately to cool down in the hot sun.

Captain Fergus was on board, staring over the water with the kind of grim expression Ash had seen in movies before. Current sat by his feet, tail curled over his paws, but even like that Ash could see the tensed muscles in the vaporeon.

He followed the man's gaze. Near the horizon, a tiny blip of a ship was visible. He could barely see it but even from this distance, the sharp red lines of a Seagallop Ferry was clear. Ash frowned. Mostly they were used for cruises, and Pallet Town wasn't the most desirable of places, and he didn't think this was the path to get to Cinnabar or the Seafoam Islands.

"What's that ship doing?"

Fergus grunted, but he didn't seem surprised Ash had come up. "Hunting for survivors. The Seagallops are combing the area now, and I bet they'll be for a couple of weeks at least. Lot of important people were on that boat."

"Wouldn't they just want to focus on the ship's base?" Ash tried. "I mean, we're pretty far from where it sank, and no storm would have thrown survivors that far away. They could have floated away. But then wouldn't it be easier to just send pokemon?"

"Ships have teams of water and flying type pokemon," Fergus explained, but there was an edge in his voice. "They're there to collect any survivors found and heal them up, as well as to let the pokemon rest."

Ash nodded, but he couldn't shake the niggling feeling in the back of his mind. "But aren't they concerned about the storm that sunk it? And for the matter, aren't you worried about it too-"

"Don't be so naïve, boy," Fergus spat, anger hot in his eyes. "The SS Anne was brought down. A ship that big wouldn't just sink without a hurricane on board. There's no possible chance they wouldn't have at least a dozen weather-altering pokemon on board in case anything happened, and the chances of them encountering a world-sized storm with it somehow not spreading to the rest of the regions is impossible. That damn boat was pulled under."

Ash didn't know what to say to that. Fergus seemed to realize how stiff he was and stalked off, barking a command to his second-in-command. Current gave Ash one last look before padding off after his trainer, tail flicking.

He shifted his gaze back to the water, watching a twisting shadow he guessed was a pidgeot. Tide rose above the waves, his bark echoing off the boat. Gale narrowed his eyes at the member of the pidgey line flying but he knew it was too far to fight over water. It didn't stop him from shrieking a soft challenge, puffing up his crest.

Ash had guessed something had happened to the SS Anne, but it was different to have it confirmed. As much as Captain Fergus could confirm it. The League report burned false in his mind.

xXx

"This is where we leave ya, kid," Fergus said, a grin over his rapidly growing beard. "Have fun in Pallet and if ya need a ride again, I'll be in Vermillion next."

Ash thanked him again, accompanied by the shriek overhead from Gale. The fearow had never been happier to see land, where he could fly free and not worry about running out of energy. He was not quite as used to the sea as the others of his kind were.

Current yipped a goodbye as Ash clambered off the Gyarados' Tooth, legs stiffening as soon as he got off the boat. He was one of the first off, the other passengers filing off after him, but he took a long moment to get ready to stable ground beneath him. Glee raced through him as the dock didn't rock and shake beneath his feet.

Pallet Town was remarkably close to the dock, unlike Fuschia City, but it was on a different section than where his house and Professor Oak's lab was at. It would be less than half a day to get there, maybe two or three hours.

Ash hadn't called his mom in a little less than a month. He was hoping this surprise visit would make up for it, and Professor Oak would probably let him help around the yard while he let his team recover before they started training again. Ash walked a bit unsteadily off the dock, heading out of the main area to release the rest of his team.

Rhydon rumbled annoyedly when he was released, preparing for wooden boards and rocking floors, before his eyes went wide. He thumped his tail against the ground and immediately the earth rippled outward, a weakened and different version of earth power seeping into the ground. Ash yelped and nearly fell, but Rhydon spun and caught him before he could fully meet the ground. With a laugh, he pulled himself together and released the rest of his friends.

Scorch yipped happily, darting over to Rhydon. The ground type rumbled and cupped his paws together. Narrowing her eyes, Scorch flashed with quick attack to strengthen her muscles and leaped upward to land neatly on them, rearing up and bracing her paws on Rhydon's chest to happily bark to him.

Karma actually stretched, arms and legs extending and tail flicking. Wraith immediately ducked away from the sunlight, wanting to avoid having his gases expand in the heat and press uncomfortably against his skin, but Karma's eyes flashed and the shadow he was in split. He hissed and fled another one, sticking partially out of Ash's shadow with his spines fully extended. Karma's ears flicked in laughter.

Tide barked, looking longingly out at the sea. Ash knelt next to him, getting the ice type's attention. "Hey bud. Where we're going has a nice pond with some other pokemon in there, and as long as you can avoid antagonizing them, I think I can organize you some fights with different pokemon. What do you say?"

The sealeo perked up immediately, barking softly for him. Ash grinned, petting him quickly on the top of the head. Even out of the water, his fur was slick, and his hand was wet when he was petting him. Tide chuffed, twitching his whiskers, and breathed a burst of powder snow over the ground. He slid away from Ash in an attempt to save his pride, puffing out his chest and not looking near his trainer. Ash couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his mouth, but Tide pretended not to have heard it.

"Rhydon?" The ground type turned to him, rumbling softly. "You remember any of this?"

He narrowed his scarlet eyes, peering around the town. When Ash started his journey, he had only really shown his starter his house and the path to Route 1, and he wasn't surprised when Rhydon shook his head. None of his others would recognize anything, although Gale might have flown by it a couple of times as a spearow.

Arceus, Gale had only been three miniscule pounds when Ash had caught him. Rhydon hadn't been big enough to ride on, barely coming up to his knees, and Scorch had only had four tails and was a good five inches shorter. Karma had been just a newly evolved kadabra and Wraith still a collection of gas. Even Tide had changed since he'd been caught, growing bulkier from the training. They had come so far.

Pallet Town residents stared at him as he passed. Leaf's parents waved a greeting and he returned it, but he didn't really want to talk right now and they seemed to understand that. Others watched him a bit warily, with the various six pokemon around him. Scorch trailed behind to melt Tide's powder snow trail, but they were a collective front nonetheless, and he wouldn't deny that they were frightening.

Eventually, Rhydon snorted and pointed. In the distance, Ash could see the curve of a roof, a soft blue beneath it. His home. A grin split his face and then he was running, his pokemon jerking to catch up.

He paused in front of the door, fist an inch away from knocking. What would he say to her? Maybe he should have warned her. And she might not have space or the structural support for his team to come inside-

Rhydon snorted, reached forward, and gently tapped his claws against the door. Ash shot him a glare but then the door was opening.

His mom stood there, blinking from whatever morning daze she was still in. A greeting froze on her tongue as she took him in. "Hey, Mom."

"Ash!"

Her hugs were exactly how he remembered them, and he melted into her embrace. Though he was pretty sure he heard something crack, he tried to hug back just as tightly.

She pushed him back, keeping her hands on his shoulders. "Why didn't you warn me? I don't have anything ready! Oh, Ash, you're back, and so soon! And who's that behind you? Did rhyhorn evolve?"

Ash filtered the questions as best as he could. "Yeah, he did! Let's meet everyone in the back, okay? I don't want them breaking anything in the house."

She brushed away tears in her eyes furtively, still staring at his face with the widest smile on her face. "I'll get some food for you guys, you must be hungry. Oh, that's quite a big team you've there, Ashy. I did just get a berry shipment a few days ago."

"I'll help you," he said, turning to his team. "Okay everyone, to the back. Rhydon, can you lead the way? Wraith, Karma, can you- no. I change my mind. Wraith, could you help? Karma's had a gleam in her eyes since she got here and I'm not having you steal any food for yourself."

The kadabra dropped her ears in faux innocence, but Ash was far too used to her to fall for it. Wraith hissed his sharp laughter, pulling himself out of Ash's shadow and turning fully tangible, which prompted a yelp from his mother before she recovered. Tide followed slowly after Rhydon, carefully avoiding any of the decorations in the yard. He had been on his best behavior since Ash had promised him fights with Professor Oak's pokemon, and it was a clear difference.

Scorch pressed herself against Ash's side, and she was small enough Ash shuffled her into the house alongside Wraith. She peered around curiously, padding over to the couches and sniffing at the fabric. Wraith extended his spines as soon as he entered, bloody eyes narrowed, but he adjusted to the new environment quickly. He still passed through the wall a few times to check for exits and threats, but he was remarkably subtle about it.

The shipment of berries would be plenty for his team several times over, and she promised him she was getting a new one soon enough so he didn't have to worry about eating her out of house and home. Wraith took the largest container of berries for Rhydon and Tide, not limited by such things as mortal muscles, and Scorch fanned out six sturdy iron tails to balance a package on. Ash and Delia grabbed their own containers, still talking hurriedly. It felt like years since they'd been together.

Rhydon waited patiently as Delia walked amongst them each, showing off his horn when she praised him. All of his friends enjoyed the praise she heaped on them, chests puffed out and heads tilted upward. Judging from her face, she knew exactly what she was doing. Ash laughed furiously when Gale tried to show off, lighting his feathers up with steel wing, and nearly smacked against Wraith.

"I'm so proud of you, Ash," she said, sitting next to him on the outside table. A plate of nibbled on berry stems was between them, and Ash couldn't help but lean against her side and relax. It was a hundred thousand times better than the standard trainer's food he got on the road or on the Gyarados' Tooth, and he was going to plead with his mother to make him his favourite meal tonight.

Rhydon burped, patting his armored chest and standing fully up from the large wooden bowl in front of him. Ash had run into the kitchen and grabbed several handfuls of lettuce. As a vegetarian, even despite his size, Rhydon ate an equal about of greens and ground.

"Are you going to visit Professor Oak?" She asked, bumping their shoulders together.

Ash perked up. "Yeah! Tide wants a battle with some pokemon, even though he's been training for the past two weeks, and I'd like to have him inspect my pokemon. I'll probably stay in Pallet Town for about a week, I think, before I'm heading out to Cinnabar Island. Then I'm going to travel around Kanto for a month or two and train up for Giovanni. Then," he paused. "Then I don't know what. I'll figure it out."

She smiled warmly. "That's my Ashy. Come on. Let's head over while we've still got daylight, alright?"

His friends were slow to move from their comfy positions, but Tide blew enough powder snows that got them going. Gale had frosted-over wings and a small collection of snowflakes on his crest, but Tide had only used powder snow instead of anything more dangerous. Delia giggled as the sealeo barked and slapped his flippers against the ground, trying to motivate the other five.

It wasn't that far of a walk to Professor Oak's lab, and Delia kept it far from silent with her questions. Ash enjoyed reenacting several gym battles, making his team mime out their actions. Scorch and Rhydon exchanged a look.

When he arrived, they waited in silence for nearly five minutes before a flustered assistant came to the door and let them in, apologizing profusely. Apparently, there had been several strange energy waves across Kanto without a clear center, and Professor Oak had been tasked with investigating them. He hadn't found a rhyme or reason for them yet, but they had collected enough data to start making hypotheses. Professor Oak appeared after another couple of minutes, hair spiked in all directions and a distinct black burn on his lower arm. He smiled warmly at Ash, welcoming the young trainer into his lab as he led the pair of them to a quieter area.

"Ash! I'm surprised to see you, how's your journey going?"

Ash grinned back. "Great so far, I'm sure you've seen my team and my badges, but I met a lot of people and I'm excited to go to Cinnabar next. I just want to spend a week or so here to rest, and then I'll be going off again."

Professor Oak nodded, giving a gentle look to Delia. "That's good. If you're available, there are some tasks around here you might have fun with."

"I'd be happy to help out." His mind suddenly flashed to Tide. "Also, would you happen to know any pokemon that'd like to battle with my sealeo? I promised him a fight for good behavior, and he's held up his side so far. No one too strong, he's been training for the entire time we've been on the boat, but he refuses to accept he shouldn't fight someone." A grin spread over his face, and Professor Oak matched it with a chuckle.

"I've seen pokemon like that. My Arcanine would be fine with that, and there is a machoke around here that likes to battle anything. And, if you can convince the old nidoqueen that you'll be safe, a few nidorino should be up for it."

Ash grinned. "Thanks. I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that." After the original bump had been crossed, conversation flowed between the three of them much easier. By the time an assistant poked their head back in and asked for the professor in five minutes, he looked far more relaxed.

"What's up with the energy wave?"

"Jeanne Matori - ah, apologies, Giovanni's assistant - was the one who's been sending me all of the data, and we're beginning to make heads and tails of it. It comes randomly, but what I believe happened is that a group of kadabra collided in a territory dispute and evolved to fight each other, which is why the signal is coming from everywhere. Or some type of psychic activity - it is a full moon tonight, and that can trigger powers of various types. I've sent Alakazam to try and find them, but she hasn't reported anything yet. We'll keep searching for them, but I'm going to guess they'll calm down after the full moon." The man shrugged. "I believe it is going to fade quickly, and then Goodshow will call off the search. We have more important things to focus on now."

He matched the trainer's grin, adjusting his sleeves. In doing so, he exposed more of the blackened mark over his skin. It was stark and seemed fresh, a thin layer of soot staining the edge of his lab coat.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked, pointing at his arm.

"Oh, this?" He gestured to the burn mark, a mareepish smile crossing his face. "A pichu evolved recently, and he's quite grown to like the taste of my lab wires. He keeps getting overcharged and whenever I try and help him, I get zapped. At this point, I think he finds it entertaining."

Ash grinned at that. He hadn't found many wild electric types, but pikachu were powerful in the right hands. Maybe he'd take a look.

Another assistant knocked on the door, and Professor Oak sighed. "Well, duty calls, Ash. If you'd like, you could take to the field behind the secondary pond for training if you want. Just be careful of the nidoran herd, they like to wander there occasionally. I'll have some tasks for you tomorrow, and there'll be food for your team tonight."

"Thank you," he said, eyes flicking down. "I mean, really. For everything."

Professor Oak's eyes softened, and he put a hand on Ash's shoulder. "Of course, Ash. I'll see you tomorrow."

The man who he had looked up to as his father for nearly ten years of his life smiled one last time and left the room, readjusting his sleeves. Ash nodded even though Professor Oak couldn't see him, a hand falling to the empty pokeballs on his waist. It was time to work with his team.

Tide looked expectantly up at him when Ash approached him, whiskers twitching. Ash rolled his eyes at the one-track mind pokemon, but dutifully knelt slightly and started talking.

"So I've got a few options for you," Ash said, popping his back. Tide watched him avidly. "Arcanine - a fire type - was alright with a spar, and a machoke - fighting type - would probably enjoy it. Also, Alakazam could bring over some nidorino-"

Tide barked to get him to stop. Ash repeated the names and Tide barked again on Arcanine's name, brown eyes narrowed in determination. He couldn't help but grin. A fire type meant they both had an advantage over each other - a fair-ish fight. He asked a silent question, reaching out to the brighter of the stains in his mind. Karma responded instantly with a flash of yellow-orange agreeal and, in under a minute, there was the thumping of paws echoing up through Ash's legs. With a cheerful bark, Arcanine blurred out of extreme speed and landed next to Ash. He nosed Ash's side, barking warmly before turning to Tide.

"He'd like a spar, please," Ash said, gesturing to the sealeo. "But he's been training pretty hard for the past two weeks, so go easy on him. Just run away if he gets too into it." Tide barked angrily at that but subsided with a glare. Arcanine chuffed, flicking his tail behind him as he settled into a battle stance.

Ash quickly left the area. He'd come back in anything caught on fire.

xXx

Ash stared. The eevee stared back.

It yipped in confusion after a few seconds, blinking chocolate brown eyes. He knew it was large for its age, the tip of its tail twitching, and its muscles were lithe and its coat was silken. Professor Oak had told him that Gary had sent back a pokemon for a week in order to train his new pokemon, but Ash had expected his pidgeotto, so he could ask his friend to let him and Gale spar, or maybe the magnemite, who he just wanted to check on. He had not, however, been expecting an _eevee_.

Horrifically rare in Kanto, there was only a small colony in the Safari Zone that wasn't allowed to be captured except for in certain circumstances, and Bill the researcher raised them. They were more common in other regions, but not in Kanto.

He heard a chuckle from behind him, and Professor Oak appeared into the room with a pokemon food bowl. Eevee chirped and immediately dug in, happily wagging its tail as it ate. Professor Oak scratched behind its wide ears before letting it eat.

"How did he get an eevee?" Ash demanded, eyes wide. "Where could he possibly catch one in Kanto-"

"Gary didn't catch one," Professor Oak calmly explained, eyes twinkling. He was enjoying Ash's jealousy. "He won it. Saffron City had a tournament a month ago, and Gary entered. The prize was this little gal." Eevee yipped, but continued eating.

Ash stared at the pokemon. Tournaments. He had heard of them, but hadn't done much research. That was about to change. "Are there a lot of them?"

Professor Oak scratched at his shock of hair. "Well, yes, but many of them are small-scale, and the prizes reflect that. Your best bet are the more tourist locations, as they try to attract more people with exotic prizes. There was even a tournament a year or two ago that had the first prize place of a larvitar."

"When's the next one?"

"Hop Town is having a competition in a week or two, but I'm afraid you can't enter that one without a grass type. Dark City is having a tag team but that's in two days, and you don't have time for that. However, Cinnabar Island is having a decently large one in a month which should be right up your alley."

Ash was already rescheduling everything. He'd win the badge, scope out the area, and train there until it was time for the tournament.

"Tournaments are a great help for beginning trainers," Professor Oak said rather sagely. "In them, you get the opportunity to see many other trainers battle, not just yourself, and using that can let you formulate strategies you might not have thought of. People learn from a new angle when they watch others battle, and tournaments often employ odd rules to hype the crowds up, such as double or triple battles, or typing rules, or even handicaps. It forces you to adapt to a different type of battle, and that can be vital for later fighting. Besides, it is good practice for the Conference. I'm sure you're not quite used to having thousands of people watching you battle."

Ash chuckled, a bit of a blush creeping up his neck. "Not really. The most I've had is a gym battle."

"And those only have maybe a dozen or so." Ash nodded. "So the Cinnabar Tournament should be a good thing for you. Sign up is three days in advance, so make sure you're not cutting it too close. They haven't released anything on the prize yet, but rumors had already started to spread."

Ash's blood was pumping. It was like preparing for a gym battle, except this time he didn't have a typing to prepare for or a leader to research. That only served to make him more excited about it. He could get the Volcano Badge in time to fight there, and then he'd be ready to go.

"Don't go running off yet to Cinnabar, Ash," he said with a smile. "Delia would like me to tell you that she's making tauros steaks tonight, and if you help her she'll make extra for tomorrow."

Ash was practically out of the door faster than Professor Oak could finish his sentence.

xXx

The day was blisteringly warm, right in the heart of summer, and he had started sweating on just the walk to the lab. His team was getting healed up by Professor Oak, the training from yesterday having worn them out, and Tide was nursing a bad burn over his back. Scorch had been able to produce a fair amount of toxic iodine, and Ash had been feeding her almost nothing but magikarp and kebia berries. So far, she had been able to produce a thick cloud of grey smoke, and it would only grow over time. He had thought of naming it toxic cloak, as that was what it basically was. Her flamethrower was nearly up to the level it was usable in battle, but she was still working on getting the power she needed for it.

Ash walked into the professor's lab, a yawn stretching his lips. Only two more days here, and then he'd be on the road again, dealing with the definite lower quality of food and sleep. But he was itching to start moving again, to find trainers and battle them, as well as encounter wild pokemon and possibly catch a new member for his team. Though he hadn't had Tide for a long while, he felt like he could handle another pokemon if he did come across one.

He was still missing a fair number of types, somewhere around eight he thought, but he didn't want to catch a ton of pokemon while in Kanto. Ash saw the back of the man's lab coat and walked fully around to face him, grinning.

"Hey Professor, what's-"

Professor Oak's face was so pale he almost matched the white tiles beneath his feet. He swayed dangerously where he stood, one hand in a death grip on the back of his chair. His eyes were wide and drained on conscious thought. Without saying anything, he pointed at the television in the corner. A woman reported on one side, face just as drained of blood as the professor's. She pressed a finger to her ear, silent for a moment, before beginning to talk.

"And yes, it has been confirmed that Elite Four Member Will Tsuin has been killed. The League is scrambling to get an appropriate response to this catastrophe, as it is known that the Elite Four are the most powerful trainers in Kanto. Will is- I'm sorry, was - the lowest ranking member of the Indigo Kanto League, but his pokemon were a force to be reckoned with and had successfully won against five Conference winners in his nine-year stay. The League has refused to release the exact location in order to assess how he was murdered, but the ranger that found his body was stationed in Viridian City. It is only known of one other killed alongside him - his starter and dearest companion, Pino, his espeon. It is assumed that she was defending him as he was attacked, but again, it is impossible to know until the Indigo League decides to release an official report-"

Ash's mind went blank.

xXx

Delia was crying when he went home. Though neither of them knew Will personally, he had still been one of Indigo's Elite Four, and had such been a very present figure on television and media. It was like losing a distant friend.

And that wasn't even taking account the fact he had been killed. It wasn't old age. It was murder. Who was out there that was strong enough to kill a member of the Elite Four? Neither of them mentioned when Ash sent Wraith out on perimeter, or when Rhydon was at the foot of his bed and Karma alert in the corner. There wasn't much sleep to be had that night.

Ash was sitting with Delia in the living room the next day, Rhydon snoring by their feet, when Alakazam teleported in. She only looked at him for a moment before she was extending her paw out, dull claws on Ash's shoulder, and then he was gone. Stumbling in the new environment and trying to stand up from his sitting position, he realized he was in Professor Oak's lab, the lights humming cheerfully and white tiles spotless. The man was waiting by the television. After another moment, Alakazam flashed his mom there too, and they all watched. The woman on the screen was the same from a day ago, still looking flustered but more smoothed over.

"The League has released their official report on the event, as well as a watered-down version of what they believe happened. Will was investigating claims on an abuse mill or farm location near Viridian City. It was thought to be owned by a man named Gideon, who bred ponyta as a way to cover his tracks. Unfortunately, he never officially advertised the location of his ponyta farm in the papers, and the League was somehow tricked into overlooking it during their tri-annual census. Will was attempting to find the abuse farm when he was suddenly attacked by over thirty dark types, judging by the prints on the ground. While normally this would be little problem, there was a second wave of an unknown number of ghosts, untrained as they were, and the two conflicting auras greatly reduced his and his team's power. Furthermore, he only had his espeon, exeggutor, hypno, xatu, slowking, and newly evolved golduck on him at the time, and they were caught unawares. It was odds than any would fare difficult to face, especially with the surprisingly highly trained dark pokemon. When compared to the previous pokemon used by villains of Kanto, these were much higher in training and power.

Will himself was fighting the pokemon until what is believed to be a dark pulse hit him, and the connection with his pokemon went dead. That confused them until the dark types were able to knock them out - it is not known what happened to them, as their bodies were not at the site. Pino, his espeon, took a hit meant for him, but Will was attacked by nearly fifty pokemon and was killed shortly after. The site was left completely clean from other pokemon or trainers by the time it was found. The League is not available for question at this time, but rumors have begun to spread about who the newest member of the Elite Four is going to be."

Ash's ears closed off, the woman's mouth moving up and down without a sound. An Elite Four was dead. Killed.

Who would have done that? How could they have the power? Why?

Ash had a funny feeling he knew the answer to the first one.

xXx

 **Hey y'all! Sorry for not updating in forever. I do have something to confess - I was done with this story. Like completely done. I had moved on, started writing in my AO3 account, and closed the document for I thought was the last time. It wasn't that I disliked the story, it was just that I had lost motivation to keep writing it.**

 **And then what should I stumble across but a post by reddit user hilde11, where they listed this story as one of the good "Ash with a different starter" fics. And that just restarted me, I guess. I tore out this chapter over the course of two weeks but yet it still came, and I'm rather proud of it.**

 **But now I will be continuing this story, and I will be updating more regularly. So, sorry for going radio silent, but now I return!**

 **Also, yes, I am doing the pokemon fanfiction staple of having a tournament. It won't be until the twelfth chapter but I didn't want to drop a bomb of having a tournament with no buildup. I'll have an OC sheet out next chapter, but I wanted to get the mention in earlier.**

 **Will has been killed! As you guys might have noticed from my previous chapters, I'm focusing on the villains of this story, and they are not going to the same weaklings the anime showed them as. There is a reason for this. There is a reason for everything you have read in the previous chapters.**

 **You might want to try and remember what was in them, because I'm throwing down references like there's no tomorrow. But you don't have to.**

 **Away, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please read and review!**


	9. Baiting

"What is the League going to do?" Ash demanded, fists tight at his side. Professor Oak sighed, avoiding his gaze by polishing his glasses on the edge of his lab coat. The man's shoulders sagged with exhaustion and Ash probably should have noticed that, but he had flown straight past the grief stage and into anger, and Professor Oak was the first unwilling target for his frustration. "Are they just going to stand around? It's been two days! They couldn't have gotten far with Will's pokemon!"

Professor Oak fidgeted with his glasses. "Ash, I don't have the answers," he said tiredly. "From what I can guess, the League is going to get his affairs in order and prepare a funeral. There is also the case of placating the public - news like this won't be taken lightly."

Ash puffed up like an angry Gale, hackles raised. "But that's not enough! Are people going to be happy with pokemon running around with the power to kill a member of the Elite Four?"

"And of course they will be focusing on that, Ash!" His voice was sharp but it did little to the trainer. "I have no doubt that Lance is going to be sending out more League forces in the area, but they are wary about someone who has that power. This Gideon, whoever he is, was discovered to have sent information to an unknown person detailing Will's location mere hours before he was attacked. The letter was nowhere to be found and the pidgeot who delivered the message was discovered to have been killed. Gideon is their only lead and they, quite frankly, don't have the time nor resources to search for someone who could be so dangerous."

His fingernails bit into his palms, and he distantly realized he was screaming. "It was obviously Team Rocket! The League knows what they did in Celadon and Vermillion, why the hell don't they know this was them too?"

Professor Oak sucked in a deep breath, and that forced Ash's anger down a level. The man looked back up at him with tired eyes, but there was steel in them that couldn't be ignored.

"Team Rocket is not the only villainous group in the world, Ash. There were tracks of dark pokemon from all across the world, from Kanto to Alola."

"The abuse mills, they could have bred them!" Ash tossed around for an answer even as his mouth ran more. "Or poached them, or stolen them, or everything else that Team Rocket is known for!"

Professor Oak had taken a step back away from Ash, but the boy only got closer. Will had been killed, a member of the Elite Four had been killed, and the League he had idolized since he had been born was doing _nothing_ about it.

"This isn't your fight, Ash," he warned. "Goodshow is making plans now, and Lance is ready to be released whenever a lead is found. Leave it to them."

He wouldn't let it go. "But they have to strike _now_! Team Rocket could be getting away. They can't be that stupid!" There was blood leaking from his hands, dripping onto the floor, and Professor Oak obviously caught sight of it. The man's eyes narrowed, flicking up to see Ash's no doubt hysterical face, and then slid to the left. Ash barely had time to feel a touch from dull claws on his shoulder before the world flashed to black.

In an instant, he was standing on the front doorstep of his house, flailing as he struggled for balance after the weightlessness of teleporting. It took him longer than usual to have his eyes refocus from the surprise teleportation. Professor Oak's Alakazam stood quietly next to him, removing her claws from his shoulder. Her eyes were wide and blank, but her voice was anything but.

 _Be calm. Go inside and be with your mother and team - my trainer-friend will speak to you tomorrow_. And with a flash, she was gone again, only the hiss of air rushing into the spot she had been in the only sign that she had ever been there.

Ash's chest was heaving, pressure building up behind his eyes. "Calm down?" He shouted at the empty spot. "Will is dead! Who's next?"

There was no response. It was later than midday and in the week, so there was no one around. He didn't care. "There isn't time to just sit at home. I helped in the attack at Vermillion, I could help ag-"

Teleportation. Karma. Karma could teleport, could get him to the area where Will had last been at. Fumbling at his belt, he yanked off his fifth pokeball and clicked the button. With a flash of light, she appeared in front of him, ears perked.

Immediately, the stain in the back of his mind flared to life and reached out, almost hesitantly, to touch the corners of his mind. Waves of blue-green concern rippled outward, but he ignored it for now. She stared at him, tail twitching. Her claws clicked together, shine rippling around her neck.

"I need you to teleport me to Viridian," he said, fists clenched by his side. "Try and search for any residual psychic energy, and then hit that area. I know you can do it. But I need to stop Gideon before he hurts anyone else."

Karma looked less than sure about it, ears pressed flat against her skull as she stared at him. Again, his stain reached outward. _You are… scared. Angry. Calm down first_?

He scowled. Professor Oak's dark face and Alakazam's sharp voice echoed through his mind. "Not you, too."

Her eyes blanked, ears and tail going still. She simply floated in front of him, almost frozen in midair. Ash's chest crumpled, a new weight building in his chest he recognized. Guilt. Karma didn't deserve that, she didn't-

He reached out, as if to touch her shoulder, but stopped an inch from the golden fur. She didn't outwardly react, staring at him with black eyes.

"I- I'm sorry, Karma. I'm just- I'm scared, okay? The Elite Four are the most powerful trainers in Kanto and Johto, and Will was no slacker. He knew what he was doing, and they still took him down. I want to stop him."

Karma twitched her left ear, eyes still blank. She kept staring at him, and he could feel the stain rising to latch onto his thoughts, picking them apart. Karma's eyes flashed blue and her shine solidified into its active position, the touch on his mind growing stronger. It began to hurt, dragging dull claws along his thoughts as she searched. He winced but let her do whatever she was doing.

Slowly, the tension in his shoulders faded, and a weight unstitched itself from where he hadn't even been aware of its existence. A pounding in his skull lessened. Ash still felt just as angry as before, frustration and fear running right alongside it, but there was some sort of a screen, forcing him to think even for a second longer before he reacted on his thoughts. Karma pulled back, ears pressed flat against her skull.

Ash frowned, reaching upward to press his fingers into the curve of his skull. He could feel the hairs on his arm stand up as the psychic energy faded away, blue trickling down the side of his face.

 _I have defended your mind_ , she explained slowly, searching for the proper words _. Put a… block. Do you still want to go_?

Ash opened his mouth to reply but stopped. His thoughts rose as if from water through his mind. It took him several minutes to think it over again, his natural reign of thought slowed down. It was a strange experience, but one that outlined several trains of thoughts he hadn't been able to find in his rush of anger. In the end, he came to the same decision.

"Yes." Karma narrowed her eyes, but he rushed to explain. "The League is going to have other people search for Gideon's farm - I might as well help. I'm pretty sure I know where it should be, too, if it's the same Gideon I met in Viridian. A few miles to the southeast of Viridian, on a path of some sort to the Pokemon Center. It should be a little away from where Will was killed, but still pretty close. I- I think there should be some sort of ponyta. Fire types. You've seen them before."

His explanation made more sense now, even though he could still feel anger and frustration and fear thrumming through his veins as strongly as any blood. Karma inclined her head the barest of inches, eyes flashing.

 _Ask me before yelling_. Her voice was sharp, but it was a different bite than Alakazam's had been. Underneath it, there was worry and pride mixed up, but she was able to control it outwardly.

"I will, Karma. I promise."

Her stain rose somewhat, touching along the edges of his mind, but she found her answer quickly and retreated. With a flick of her tail, her shine grew more solid, glowing vaguely from inside. _Then we go_.

"Thanks, Karma," he said, adjusting his belt. All of his team was here - he would brief them when he was closer to Viridian. The guilt in his chest lessened somewhat, but the headache from Karma poking around was this there. He pushed it aside for now - there were more important things to do. "Do you think you're able to teleport me? It's not that far, but we haven't tried it before."

She twitched the end of her tail, a burst of yellow-green going through his mind. _I can. I will sleep tomorrow_. With that, she inflated her psionic bubble slightly to be on the same level as he was, before reaching forward and placing her paw on his shoulder. Closing her eyes, she bared her shine to the world with her other paw and started glowing.

Karma had teleported humans before, at Vermillion, but she had been under the battle high. Now she focused on making it more smooth, slowing down the process in order to do it right. Through her closed eyelids, her pupils began to glow with an inner light. Ash closed his eyes to prepare.

There was a crack like that of thunder and then Ash almost fell over, nearly face-planting onto a thick layer of grass and dirt. He caught himself at the last possible second, arms flailing and nearly catching Karma. She floated back, psionic bubble deflating before she caught herself.

The kadabra, for her part, looked confused. She reached out toward some sort of invisible barrier, her shine gleaming brightly. At once, she recoiled her paw, eyes narrowing in disgust and ears flat against her head.

Ash frowned, reaching forward, but her stain flashed to almost painful life as she shoved more power through it. _There… aura. Dark. I ...power, but weak_.

He caught the gist of it. "There's some sort of aura here, and that's why you can't talk to me as well?"

She nodded, reaching out. A ball of psychic energy appearing in her palm. Her ears flicked in confusion. It seemed just as strong as normal, gleaming with fluctuating hues of blue-silver-white, but when she tilted her paw, it fizzled out of existence before it hit the ground.

"It's strong enough that it's affecting you whenever you try to reach out with your powers, but your natural aura is keeping it away from your body?" Ash guessed, receiving a nod of confirmation. "So it's a bit like when Wraith hadn't evolved yet, and he couldn't reign his aura in yet." She hissed at the memory but nodded again.

Okay. That would complicate things. Already he could feel the barrier in his mind fading, thoughts running full force again, but he made a conscious effort to pull them back in, focusing on looking around.

They were in the thick of the forest, though Karma had managed to aim for a semi-clearing that gave them both a relatively clear space. If the forest had been taken care of before, it obviously hadn't been so in many years. Tall, thick trees lined with the white flowers of summer ran rampant over his surroundings, and he could see scratches in the trunks from members of the pidgey and rattata lines. Distantly, there was what he thought might be a trail extending deeper into the forest, either one of the many man-made paths to give some sort of structure to the forest or a natural pokemon path to a water source.

Ash sucked in a deep breath, closing his eyes before opening them. It was time to go. He doubted he could find where Gideon's farm was overnight when Will couldn't even find it, but he had his backpack with him and enough supplies he knew he could at least try. From what the reports had been saying, Will had been searching the exact opposite area that Gideon had said where his farm was, and had only been searching for a few hours before being attacked. Ash was prepared to go for as long as it took.

Karma twitched her tail to get his attention, then point to her ears. Ash frowned before he realized what she was miming.

There weren't any sounds. Though he concentrated, he couldn't hear the chirp of flying pokemon nor the skitter of paws against the leaf litter. "The aura," he guessed again. "It's pushing away the wild pokemon?"

She gave a loose shrug with her plated shoulders, black eyes rolling over their surroundings. Ash looked around again, but nothing jumped out at him. "Do you think we should follow the aura, or the path?"

As an answer, she made his pokeball belt twitch. Getting the hint, he released the rest of his team.

Rhydon sensed his inner turmoil almost the instant he was released, turning to his trainer with a low rumble in the back of his throat. His scarlet eyes narrowed in on the already dried blood on Ash's palms and he pointed almost accusatory at them, lumbering closer in order to stare at them.

A wild laugh rose in Ash's throat, and he let it out. Rhydon rumbled worriedly, drill spinning, but Ash thumped his arm with a smile. "I'm fine, bud. But we've got a job to do. You remember Gideon?"

The ground type rumbled an affirmative, eyes still narrowed. "Well, we think he was connected to who killed Will."

That got a reaction from the rest of his team. Ash had spent enough nights spitting endless dreams about the Elite Four to them that they could recognize each of their names and knew how much they meant to Ash, and they had been present for the news broadcasts from the past two days.

Scorch yipped, six tails flaring above her head. He answered the question.

"Karma just teleported us to a little away from Viridian City, which is where he supposed to be. We're going to find Gideon." His voice sharpened, drawing on the thrum of anger in his blood. "And we're going to stop him."

xXx

The forest was large and unending. It seemed to thicken as time went on, trees swallowing the light. The only sun getting through was shafted amongst the green leaves in narrow slices of gold and red. Though Ash hadn't thought it possible, the ambiance of the woods somehow grew even quieter, the only sound the crackle of dry branches as he and his team marched through. In the height of summer as it was, there were barely any dry leaves on the ground, but Ash still felt like it was impossibly loud from beneath his feet. It was like he was screaming his presence to everyone within a ten-mile radius.

But he guessed he was going in the right direction. They were following the strange trace in the air that both Karma and Wraith were heavily subjected to. More and more, Karma had been bumping into trees, and Wraith had speared one of his hands on a branch and had to reform it.

As the aura grew stronger, it was cutting off their Trio abilities piece by piece. Neither could use their powers to aid their naturally poor senses. Karma used kinesis unconsciously for most of her life, strengthening her vision and hearing with psychic powers, but now her range had been brutally hacked down, and it was the same story for Wraith. The haunter had decided to just live in Ash's shadow where he could both protect his trainer and stay safe himself. His spines had been fully extended since the first mention of Team Rocket, and they stuck out of Ash's shadow, ready to stab anything that came too near. Scorch had trouble activating her extrasensory and Rhydon, though he didn't give more than a light effort, couldn't summon the shadows for spite. This meant four of his team was impacted by the aura and Ash wasn't going to lie, that made him nervous. His anger had cooled and deep guilt had set it for the way he had treated Professor Oak, and his mother. This was a mission, a dangerous one, and he had told no one. Neither of them deserved what he had done, but it was too late to do anything.

It was late night by the time he decided to set up camp. He didn't have all of the food he needed, but it was enough for now, and he curled next to Scorch for warmth with his lack of a blanket. It was a restless night for them all, and Wraith never ceased in his wary watch. As a ghost type, he didn't technically need sleep, but it helped him regain energy and concentrate better. Ash didn't have the heart to tell him to sleep.

Rhydon shook the ground beneath him to get him up, still so used to waking him with the sun since their first day as friends. Ash woke the rest of them and fed them all quickly. Rhydon avoided most of his food by eating through an enormous pit in the earth, shuffling his pile of pellets over to the others. Karma helped him gather their supplies, still tired from the teleportation but more than ready to keep going.

With that, they were going again. Ash guessed it was only the strange, ghostly aura that was preventing Professor Oak from teleporting in with Alakazam and dragging him back to Pallet Town. At least it was useful for something.

It was by the time that Wraith accidentally went into his incorporeal form in order to avoid the weight of the aura that Ash knew they had to be close. By the way Rhydon's spikes rustled against each other and the ground shook more than usual, he was right.

The trees began to thin along the path in the way that spoke of pokemon training, burned fields and scorch marks on the ground from electricity. Ash was on high alert, his team the same. Now that they were getting closer, even Ash could feel something wrong with his surroundings, the prickle on the back of his neck and the narrow line up his spine.

In a heartbeat, he was out of the forest and on a ledge, the entire thing opening up as if a cliff. He took a second to adjust the thick breeze rippling over him before ducking for cover beneath a protruding overcrop, gesturing for his team to do the same. They did so immediately, although Rhydon had to hunker down as best he could. With as small of a flash as he could, he released Tide onto the ground next to them, finger to his lips. The sealeo opened his mouth to bark but abruptly snapped it closed, looking around. He ducked with the rest of his friends, brown eyes sharp.

After giving it as long as he dared to make sure that no was coming toward them, he leaned upward to peer over the overcrop. Now that he couldn't rely on Karma and Scorch's passive perimeter checks, he would have to use his own, more subpar, senses to see where enemies were.

It was a field, a wide one. There didn't seem to be much going for it - while it was enormous, easily the size of maybe two gyms laid next to each other. The only plants were sparse grass, wildflowers, and a sprawling bush in one corner, mostly separated from the forest. Random holes littered the field, and Ash guessed there had been some sort of fire type nearby rather recently to explain for the soot over one section.

But there didn't appear to be anything of note. Ash frowned, almost standing, when the whirr of a horn caught his attention.

Rhydon was staring at the field with the most confused expression Ash had ever seen on his face, drill spinning periodically and various spines rustling against each other. When Ash opened his mouth to whisper a question, he merely raised one foot and stomped against the ground.

A shockwave of energy spread outward, nowhere near the strength he needed for earthquake but merely a searching technique. It was only visible in the slight shudder of grass as it passed.

Three of his pokemon reacted - Rhydon, Scorch, and Gale. The vulpine whined, flattening her ears to her skull, and Gale flared his crest, but Rhydon only narrowed his scarlet eyes and snorted out a puff of dusty breath. All were fixated on where the shockwave had gone.

"What's going on?" He murmured, sliding his gaze between the three of them. The rest of his pokemon just seemed confused, Karma's ears perked and Wraith's hands were tilted to the side. Tide was still being staring at the clearing.

Scorch yipped to get his attention before slowly, carefully, flicking her ears. Ash's eyes brightened. "You heard something?"

The vulpix looked to Karma, eyes flashing weakly. They were in the thick of the aura, but there was still enough power being produced by Karma to repel the basic ghost and dark energies. She floated closer, drifting to the ground to set her claws on Scorch's back. The fire type's eyes alit again with blue, and she waved him over with her longest tail. Ash placed his own hand on her head and was instantly immersed in the world of extrasensory.

He gritted his teeth, a pounding headache emerging instantly. Even as his eyes instinctually closed, the universe around him spun in a mirage of a thousand million colors, every individual shade burning into his pupils. He could hear the rustle of each of Tide's furs, the hiss of Wraith's moving gases, the rumble of earth rippling outward-

And the resulting clang of metal.

Extrasensory abruptly cut off, leaving him disoriented. He opened his eyes, grimacing at the bland, dull world that emerged, but the fuzziness faded quickly. What he had heard was still sharp.

"There's something in the field," he guessed. Rhydon rumbled and nodded his head, eyes narrowed. "You sensed it?" Another nod. "It's hidden somewhere beneath the ground. Do you know how big it is?"

Rhydon tilted his head slightly to the side, tapping his tail against the ground once again. Another ripple, this time weaker, spread outward. Scorch flattened her ears, yipping annoyedly. After a second, he raised his arms and spread them apart, as far as he could go. Ash frowned. "Big, then." A nod.

"If it's underground, then we'll need to find the entrance. They must have hidden it well to avoid the League-"

Gale squawked a warning and slapping Ash over the head with his wing.

The boy fell, landing on the ground and only narrowly avoiding Scorch. But he stayed quiet, peering up at the fearow. Gale's keen eye was not something he always used, but when he did, it was wicked useful. The flying type's crest was fully raised, even as lowered as he was. Rhydon growled softly but fell to all fours again, barely being hidden enough by the overcropping.

Ash gave it a solid thirty seconds before peeking out from around the side.

From when the clearing had been empty before, there was now a woman in it. She looked around, seemingly confused, hands on her hips. Long brown hair was tied in a tail on the back of her head and Ash could see the glint of pokeballs on her waist, but there was something more. Her uniform.

Pitch black. It didn't have any sort of symbols on it, no enormous, obvious R, but it was not the outfit an average trainer would wear. Skintight and matte, it looked a bit like a thinner version of what the police officers had been wearing in Vermillion during the raid.

Ash turned his head slightly to the side. He needed answers, and there was one member of his team that was the best at getting them. "Hypnosis."

Wraith cackled silently, but Ash couldn't hear it clearly in the back of his mind. With a hiss, he blinked out of visible existence, stirring up the leaves as he dove for the woman below. Tall spears of grass bent as he flew past, but the woman only had time to look up before a six-foot-tall haunter appeared in front of her.

She opened her mouth to scream, hands flying to her waist, but Wraith just tauntingly shot one of his hands forward and snatched the pokeballs off. In her confusion and fear, he was able to lock her eyes with his own bloody pair and let pink waves spread through the air between them. With a sigh, she stumbled backward, and Wraith cut off the attack right before she fell. She collapsed on the ground, managing to pull herself into a sitting position but seemingly not able to focus on anything. Wraith, with a decisive flick of his claws, set the pokeballs on the ground, never losing eye contact with her.

Ash stood up from behind the outcropping and began running down to the pair of them, his team following him. Tide found going downhill much easier and was able to stay even with the rest of them. Scorch found a little trouble in getting past the knotted grass, but she didn't trail too far behind.

The woman focused sluggishly on him, but her eyes kept drifting. Wraith had cut off the hypnosis at the last possible second, leaving her hopefully just disoriented enough Ash could ask her questions.

"Who do you work for?" He tried to keep his voice as calm as possible, but TV reports about Will kept flashing in front of his mind, anger spilling into his tone.

Her gaze was sleepy, but there was a spark of consciousness in them. When she spoke, the words were quick and blank, memorized. "I'm a graduated trainer. I work for a ponyta breeder, helping keep his pokemon in line and making sure they don't escape. I also help him scare away pokemon from the boundary."

Ash was momentarily worried he had just captured a random trainer but then Wraith hissed, out loud for once, and clenched his claws together. Another wave of pink floated into the woman's eyes, relaxing her muscles even further.

"Team Rocket. Gideon is the leader of this base, and I answer to only him, Viper, and the boss. We breeding ponyta for income and as a coverup for the base below ground."

Ash's blood ran hot, and he could see Rhydon narrow his eyes. "Where are the ponyta?"

"Hidden. In the base. After what happened to Will, it was too risky to be above ground, so we drove them under and are waiting until it's clear enough to come back up. I dunno how long it'll take. Gideon is going to have to change his name again and we might switch to breeding tauros instead to avoid the publicity."

He tried to remember what he had seen on shows like this. What would Lance have asked? "What do you do in the base?"

"It's a pokemon storage for Team Rocket." Her eyes stayed closed for nearly half a minute before reopening. "We help Gideon train pokemon to make them stronger and collect and sort the pokemon sent to us. I watch over the ponyta and take in new shipments. We don't leave the base often or run raids. For the most part, we just guard the pokemon here and ship them out if needed. Fight them, too. Against each other."

Wraith hissed, claws scratching against each other. His spines were stabbing directly up, bloody eyes fierce in their scarlet and fangs bared. The woman stared sleepily at him, which only served to make him angrier. His gaze moved to Ash, bristled up with his eyes beginning to lose their shape in his anger, twitching into narrow slits on his ectoplasmic skin.

The woman was slipping. She was still connected to Wraith via the hypnosis and with his anger, the urge to sleep was only growing stronger. Ash tried for one last question, squatting to stare her directly in the eyes.

"Where is the entrance to your base?"

Her gaze was lazy, tilting further and further back as her muscles lost their fight. "Underground. It's a trapdoor."

Ash's chest tightened. "Wraith, knock her out."

The haunter hissed, claws extending even farther until they seemed like swords. An actual glimpse of fear flickered in the woman's sleepy eyes, shuffling partially backward even as Wraith drifted steadily forward. Spines cracked against each other, ectoplasmic skin expanding in his rage.

"With hypnosis," Ash said sharply. Wraith's spines drooped as he turned his bloody gaze to his trainer, clicking claws against each other, but with a silent hiss, he locked gazes with the woman and finished knocking her out, albeit unwillingly. The woman made one last gasp and fell over. Asleep.

Ash dropped fully to his knees, pulling off his backpack. There was survival rope in his largest pocket, tightly coiled up and only touched several times so far on his journey. "Rhydon, pick her up."

The ground type rumbled but dutifully knelt, wrapping thick arms around her body. He needed Karma to keep her strength and Rhydon was the only one strong enough to pick her up. His horn spun even as he carried her, growling low in his throat.

Ash led him to the edge of the forest, trying to find the best tree he could. It was eventually found a little off from the border, a large enough sapling he trusted to do its job but not too thick he couldn't tie the woman to it.

Rhydon set her against it, standing back to let Ash do his work. His tail thrashed against the ground, sending ripples spreading outward.

He tried to tie her up the best as he could, tying her wrists first and then her chest against the trunk. Wraith floated closer, offering Ash something in his outstretched claws. Ash slipped the proffered pokeballs into his bag. He'd give it to the League later. He tested the restraints on the woman, made sure she was tight enough, and stood up. The hypnosis would knock her out for probably a few hours, being stronger on humans than pokemon.

Trapdoor. He walked back out to the clearing, shooting frequent looks back at the unconscious woman. All of them - he guessed - had missed when she had come from, so it would be mostly a searching game. They looked attentively at him as he neared them, Rhydon marching around to stand next to his team.

"She said trapdoor, which means it has to be hidden. Rhydon, you and Scorch try to find it with your ground sense, take Gale if needed. Karma, try and reach out if you can. And for Wraith and Tide, I want you two to try and destroy the land as much as you can once Rhydon and Scorch have confirmed it's not in that area. Wraith, poison until everything is dead and Tide, freeze everything you can get your aurora beams on. Make sure that if people fly overhead, they see something. We're going to do this right."

Rhydon and Scorch immediately started together, Gale taking to the air to follow them. Karma floated higher, eyes flashing a pale blue as she tried to harness her external powers. Wraith and Tide exchanged looks but didn't do anything until Rhydon rumbled, gesturing roughly towards a section in a far corner.

Aurora beams began flying, even as Tide was sliding over to the area. Not to be one to be outdone, Wraith immediately collapsed part of his ectoplasmic skin, letting a large bust of gas escape from his center. The grass it touched immediately withered, turning black and grey, but he was able to control it enough to have it solely go where it needed to. A sticky scent reached across the clearing.

Ash frowned, wandering around. In the rough center, there was a perimeter in the ground, marked by two, three foot holes in the ground every half a dozen feet. He knelt by one, but it didn't seem to be a pokemon den, too uniform. Some sort of fence that had been taken down?

Gale shrieked, sending a burst of razor wind to the ground. It smacked against the bush Ash had been previously ignoring. Both Rhydon and Scorch turned to it, Karma only a second behind.

The vulpix walked closer, ears perked and eyes glowing faintly. After a few seconds, her hackles rose sharply, tails flaring upward. A growl ripped out from her throat.

Rhydon raised one of his paws as if to send another ripple through the earth, but she shook her head and padded forward. She sniffed at the edge of the bush, inspecting it with narrow eyes. Ash watched her, head tilted.

Scorch took a step backward, raised her tails, and caught the entire bush on fire with a well-placed flamethrower. It caught far too fast, whole sections of leaves going up in plumes of flame and soot. Ash coughed as thick black smoke poured upward, forcing Gale to swerve out of the way and land.

The bush eventually began to smolder, green turned to black and grey. Ash frowned and stepped closer - while the outer layers had burned, probably showing dead growth pulled from the surroundings or something like that - the interior wasn't burning.

"Scorch, see what's going on?"

She yipped, activating flash fire and stepping closer. Nosing at the burnt outer arches, she pushed further before jumping back, ears flat. She snarled softly, spitting another few embers from her tails at the mess.

Grabbing something in her teeth, she ignored the fire and began to pull the whole mess out. The burnt leaves were long-gone and dead, but what she was pulling was a mess of plastic, green dye melting off and the leaves that remained were just slowly cooling piles. Scorch finally pulled the majority of it away, immediately releasing a powerful blast of fire from her mouth to get rid of the excess plastic. She hissed, shaking, before padding back over to Ash and deactivating flash fire.

The bush was plastic, covered with flora pulled from its surroundings to make it seem more realistic. Ash watched as the plastic burned more and more out of recognition, becoming a molten mess of slag. Scorch jumped in twice more to pull away the vines, and when she was done, there was a metal slab in the ground.

Ash grinned. It looked like trapdoors did in movies, nearly five feet squared and made of some sort of strange grey-brown metal he didn't recognize. Gale snapped his wings and sent the last of the vines flying further away, still burning sluggishly. Tide put them out quickly.

Time to end this. He walked toward the trapdoor, careful to avoid any last remains of the plastic. He could see where there was a passage to let people come through smoothly - there was a sort of wooden structure, built as supports, that he guessed was to allow people to in and out without having to constantly ruin the bush. He reached for the large latch on one side. His starter growled, stomping forward to catch his shoulder.

One he had Ash's attention, Rhydon spun his horn, holding his claws a foot away from the surface of the metal. Ash mimicked him, only to feel heat rolling against his fingers. Ah. Scorch's flamethrower. He shuffled back.

Rhydon tossed his head, scarlet eyes rolling impressively. He reached down, grabbing the latch clumsily with his less-than-dexterous fingers, and pulling up. It didn't seem to be heavy by the way Rhydon overestimated the weight and nearly ripped it off.

Ash peeked out from behind the ground type's impressive bulk. Rhydon snorted, shaking off the soot on his claws. There wasn' any s

Inside, there was a neat set of stairs that extended only ten, fifteen feet down before extending into a floor. Warm yellow light extended out of the door like a blade, firing into the darkness of the barn and scaring it away.

Ash paused. Rhydon, from where he was holding the trapdoor, rumbled a question.

"We're going to bust in," he decided. Rhydon growled, worried, and glared at his trainer. "No, really. Last time, we were able to sneak in because you were a lot smaller and there weren't any people there. But not this time. I think we need to set up a perimeter, make sure they don't escape, and go through smartly. We could do it like Lance attacked the Sevii Island a decade ago!"

Tide perked up at the name of his beloved combo. Ash couldn't help the slight blush over his face - he hadn't been exactly impartial when coming up with the name for that move. Rhydon tossed his head in a manner similar to rolling his eyes.

"Rhydon, you're going to let all of us in and then stop up the trapdoor - cover it with dirt. That'll stop them from getting out, and you can let us back out when we're done. I'm going to try and record everything, but our main goal is to get in, get Gideon, and get out. Only Scorch and Wraith will be out for protection, which will let us sneak up on the grunts much better. Rhydon, you'll be the main muscle for the team, and Karma, I need you to run interference. Helping me capture the Rocket members and the like. Gale and Tide, you'll be my attackers when I have enough room to for you guys. Okay?"

He received various sounds of agreement, though Rhydon looked less than sure. But he nodded his head, spinning his horn once. The ground type pushed the trapdoor open farther, letting Ash and Scorch jump in, Wraith securely in Ash's shadow. Tide, Karma, and Gale were recalled, Ash meeting eyes with each one before clicking the button. Rhydon rumbled as he was recalled. As the scarlet mist of his starter was pulled back into the pokeball, the trapdoor slammed shut.

Ash jumped. The sound echoed up the hallway, loud and crashing.

Waiting a solid second as if that would do anything, he checked on both of his team members. He started down the path, pulling out his pokedex as smoothly as he could and flicking it to the recording feature. Though his hand was less than steady, he was able to capture his surroundings.

They were strangely different from what had been beneath Celadon and Vermillion. Instead of sterile white tiles and unyielding brights, this had drywall painted a soft cream. Hidden light fixtures pumped out the same light that could be found in houses, the floor faux wood paneling. It looked almost homely. Ash was beyond unnerved - this was supposed to be a Team Rocket base.

The hall was only a dozen or so feet long before it turned, though he couldn't see what direction it turned. He had only gone a few steps before a shout echoed through the chamber. "Wendy? You back?"

It was a masculine voice, and he could hear a mutter following it. He didn't respond. "Wendy?"

Wraith reached out to touch the back of his ankle with his claws, a hiss echoing in his mind from the physical contact. Ash shook his head, nudging Scorch with his foot. She twitched her ears in response, six tails pointed over her head.

Not thirty seconds later, two men walked around the corner and froze. They were tall, older than him but not by too much, and were wearing the same black uniform as the woman had. The two sides stared at each other for a second.

One of the men cursed and grappled at his waist. Ash barely caught sight of three pokeballs before red light filled his eyes. In an instant, five pokemon were in front of him. A graveler, arbok, growlithe, koffing, and magnemite.

A hiss split his mind. The pokemon in front of him were wild, spitting with rage, even feral. Ash narrowed his eyes, knowing his shadow was growing. One of the Rocket members jerked as Ash's shadow abruptly switched positions, stretching forward despite the lighting.

"What the fuck?" He said, taking a step backward. His partner wasn't much better.

Ash took advantage of their shock. Switching his pokedex over to his non-dominant hand, he grabbed his first pokeball and clicked the release. Rhydon roared as he was released, horn crackling with electricity. He was only half a foot away from the ceiling, nearly taking up the entire corridor, and his intimidation was only increased with the ground shaking beneath him. The grunts jumped, eyes wide. "Graveler, use-"

"Rhydon, charge it."

The ground type bellowed, lowering his horn and beginning his charge. Arbok flattened against the wall and avoided the worst of it, but Graveler had no chance. It was thrown backward, colliding against the wall with a wave of plaster dust.

Numerous commands began to ring through the air, twisting over each other. Rhydon ignored the attempted rollout and began punching. He avoided pulling up the earth in order to not destabilize the hallway, but his sheer bulk was enough. Graveler made a hollow sound of pain as Rhydon's tail slammed it back into the wall.

A clawed hand emerged from Ash's shadow, grabbed a hold of Arbok's tail, and bashed it against the ground. It gave a hissing cry, hood flaring outward and teeth shining with electricity. Wraith was forced to reform his hand after it landed a thunder fang on it, but his other reached upward and grabbed behind its hood. He flexed his claws, stabbing the ends in between its scales for traction. It wailed, thrashing.

Magnemite shuddered, groaning particularly, and fired off a crackling thunder shock. Scorch flared with flash fire and jerked out of the way. Growlithe let out a howl, charging for her. Its fangs gleamed with crunch.

Scorch spat a barrage of embers from her tails, aimed at Magnemite. It groaned and floated mostly out of the way, but two connected and threw it backward. Black covered its silver body. Ash narrowed his eyes. "Iron tail, knock that growlithe back."

Wraith hissed, jerking fully out of a shadow to combat Arbok straight on. The snake reared, throat swelling up before it released a wave of acid. Wraith phased out, reappearing a second later to rake his claws down its side.

Rhydon growled in annoyance as Koffing floated closer, spitting out clouds of poison through its dazed expression. His horn crackled and electricity snapped out, zapping through its pores. It made a strange, croaking sound, dipping in the air before spitting another cloud. Rhydon turned fully, releasing a narrow plume of flamethrower that exploded the gas. Koffing went flying back.

Ash jerked backward as Scorch's iron tail sent Growlithe flying, slamming into the wall. He retreated to a safe distance, watching Wraith grab Arbok's head and pound it into the ground. Ash frowned - Wraith's ghost moves were as weak as Karma's psychic, but his dark pulses were as powerful as always. The haunter realized it as well, sticking to that and shadow punch to let his natural aura keep the energies strong.

Rhydon roared with victory, snapping a powerful uppercut. Graveler's body cracked backward, arms collapsing to the ground and the rest of it soon following. The grunt cursed and recalled it, avoiding a powerful stomp that cracked floorboards where it had just been. The ground type turned his full attention to Koffing, who looked a little more nervous that it had been.

Scorch saw an opportunity and took it, springing off of Rhydon's tail to launch herself in the air. Magnemite groaned, floating away, but Scorch managed to get her fangs onto one of its exposed nails. Electricity pumped through her veins but she managed to drag it to the ground. Shaking slightly from the temporary paralysis, she fought past it and released a powerful flamethrower into its side. Magnemite tried to float back into the air but fainted under the immense heat. Growlithe charged in, glowing with fighting type energy. Scorch's chest swelled and she spat a glob of dark purple toxic directly in its face. It howled in pain, charge skidding to a stop as the poison assaulted its system.

Wraith grinned, wide tongue emerging from his face to lick carefully up Arbok's hood. The snake froze, shivering, the paralysis taking quick effect. His grin widened to almost extend off his face, jagged fangs bared. He flew upward to stab his claws past its scales, leaking scarlet down its side even as it fell over.

Koffing made a low shriek as Rhydon's horn stabbed into it, going clean in. It threw endless waves of smog at the ground type's face, but he ignored it, charging a shockwave. Electricity fried the poison type from the inside, forcing it to go limp against his horn.

The grunts recalled their pokemon, turning as if to run. At Ash's silent look, however, they never got the chance. Wraith lunged out forward with his eyes already glowing magenta. One of the grunts got the chance to lurch backward before passing out.

His team looked back at him, obvious expressions of pride on their faces. Scorch deactivated flash fire with a yip, still occasionally twitching from the electricity. Wraith reformed his squashed hand, reaching up to guide the leftover poisonous gases from Koffing away from Rhydon's face. The ground type rumbled in thanks.

Ash frowned as he dug through his bag. If it was a member of the drowzee line doing it, he could trust that the humans would be out for at least a day or more. But Wraith was a ghost type, and any psychic moves he used were weakened by his very aura, not even to mention the strange energies around. He wanted to make absolutely sure they couldn't just run away if they woke up before he contacted the League.

While he had used his survival rope on the woman outside, he did have a roll of biodegradable twine for certain circumstances. It was just long enough to tie the two men's wrists to each other and then to their ankles, preventing them from moving in a coordinated manner. He straightened, satisfied. That had been almost fun to do.

Ash looked around and cursed. The drywall steamed with the missed acid, scorch marks torn into the faux wood floor. Several vaguely graveler-shaped holes were pounded through the plaster, and only Wraith's concentration was keeping the ball of blue-purple gases in the corner from infecting all of them.

"Let's keep going, guys," he said, shouldering his bag again and avoiding the holes in the ground. "I doubt that went unheard."

Rhydon growled but let himself be recalled, the ground groaning as his weight disappeared. Wraith disappeared back into his shadow, shaking blood off of his claws, and Scorch came back to his side.

Around the corridor, there was another wall, mostly taken up by an enormous metal door. It was the same material as the trapdoor, a keypad on one side. Ash frowned, but it didn't take him too long to guess at its meaning. The woman outside - Wendy - and the two men were probably guards, and the door might have been another safety precaution in case someone got in. A keycard sensor blinked softly on the side.

Ash went back to the men he had tied up, carefully searching around their pockets. He found a keycard in one of their pockets, the one that had had the three pokemon. It was an off white, no text or design on it except for the black line to be scanned and a small red dot in the upper color.

He swiped it through the sensor. There was a moment of hesitation before it blinked green, the door beginning to hiss open. Scorch tensed, ready for anyone on the other side.

No one. It was a wide hallway, marked with doors on each side. Several of them had card sensors, but the majority didn't. The same warm drywall, wooden floor paneling, almost homely feeling. A shiver crept up his spine.

He went up to the first room, one without a sensor. Though he didn't want to check every room, he still wanted to see what was in them. Holding his pokedex up, he peeked through the narrow window in the wood surface.

A sitting room.

Ash wouldn't lie. He hadn't really been expecting that.

Though he knew, in the rational side of his brain, that Team Rocket members had to do something other than standing guard all the time, a sitting room seemed far too normal for that. Three couches in a triangle to face each other, a coffee table in the middle. The walls in here were painted a light green, accented by the couch cushions. If he had seen this in a house in Pallet Town, he would have thought it was a perfectly normal room.

He moved on quickly. There hadn't been anyone or much of anything inside there, and he wanted to get onto the more dangerous areas. Before he could get to the next room, however, Wraith rose fully out of his shadow with a frown on his face.

The ghost bared his fangs, reaching forward. He prodded at the air much like Karma had when they first teleported, claws scratching even as his body turned to Ash.

The shadow in his mind flared upward, back to the level he was used to. It scratched at his consciousness after the time period he had had where it wasn't there, but he got used to it after a second. "The aura?"

Wraith shuffled his spines in a manner similar to a shrug.

"So it's weaker, and you're able to communicate with me again?" A shake of his head. Ash frowned. Wraith bared his fangs, trying to find the words. His eyes sparked. He reached forward, poking light at Ash's chest.

It took Ash a moment. "It's interacting with you?"

This one earned a nod. "Good or bad?" Wraith paused, claws flickering temporarily with ghostly energy as he reached back. After another second, he tilted his hands upward in his mockery of a shrug.

Ash didn't know what to think about that, but he didn't want to lose the opportunity of Wraith's increased abilities. "Border check. Anyone near us?"

Wraith rolled his eyes, baring jagged fangs, but he did extend out his consciousness, searching for the tendril of life he used to have. Within a minute, he nodded, pulling one of his hands out of the close orbit of his body to point down the hall, then jerked left. Scorch narrowed her eyes in the direction, tails flicking above her head, but she stayed by Ash's side. He touched the top of her head.

"Not for a while. Alright." Ash nodded his head. "Let's keep going then - maybe there's something we need to know about." He frowned at the sitting room and slid to the next one. His pokedex whirred as he stepped forward, focusing as quickly as it could in Ash's shaky hands.

The next, across the hall, was some sort of kitchen. Basic appliances, multiple tables for people to eat at, and a large pantry. Ash didn't see anyone in the room, but he didn't look too hard. He still didn't like the normalcy of the whole thing.

A woman was sitting inside the third. She was reading a book, a cup of something on the table next to her. Wraith phased through walls, dropped from the ceiling, and knocked her out fast. The haunter hissed, flexing his claws, but didn't attack anymore. He was just as ready as Ash to get to the heart of the base. The fourth room was empty.

The next room had a keycard sensor, but one with a different color, orange, then the keycard he had. Ash didn't know whether it would set off an alarm, so he didn't try it. But before he could walk past the room and check the others, Scorch stiffened.

Ash frowned - had she sensed something? - and turned slowly. Wraith hissed, claws rising, but there was nothing. He looked down at the fire type, only to see her mouth falling open and beginning to pant hungrily. Every one of her tails were fully extended, heat escaping from the tips and her grey-black eyes fixed on a door. His own gaze slid toward the surface, careful to step slightly away from her. She was releasing more heat than usual.

There wasn't a window in this door, just a solid metal rectangle in the wall. Ash frowned, pressing the backside of his hand against the door. It wasn't hot, or anything like that, but it was locked. "Wraith." The ghost turned to him, bloody eyes narrowed. "Can you get inside and unlock it?"

He hissed, hands tilted, before abruptly fading out. Wraith took a few seconds to figure out how to work the latch, but then the door was sliding open, the keycard chirping once before going back to its silent glow. Wraith floated outside the room, corporal once again and with a narrowed expression. Holding his pokedex up, he inched into the room.

It was a storage room of some type, barely larger than a Pokemon Center's room. Half a dozen boxes were laying over the ground, creating a perimeter around the room. They were all well organized, pieces of paper attached to the outside and an empty table in the middle of the room. Ash walked to the first one, followed by an almost frantic Scorch. Wraith hissed from outside, but he didn't go back in. The ghost's pupils kept flicking out of sync, keeping watch down the hallway.

The top of the box was off, neatly propped up on the wall behind it, and he was able to see it in its entirety. On the package was a label saying _Flare_ , or something similar, but it was what was inside that caught his attention.

In neat, individually wrapped packages, there was a collection of smooth glass stones that burned with an inner heat. Fierce reds and oranges and yellows, all contained by what he knew to be sand melted to make glass. Fire Stones.

Scorch opened her mouth to howl at them, but Ash was faster and snapped a hand over her muzzle. He retreated it instantly, palm smarting from the heat, but she clicked it close and didn't make another sound. It was obvious by her eyes alone how much she wanted to jump into the box and absorb the power from every single one of them.

More boxes lined the room, and he could see blue and yellow and white stones inside all of them, the tops removed presumably to check their contents. How could Gideon have gotten all of these Stones? They were beyond rare in Kanto, and there looked to be at least a dozen in this box alone.

Something clicked in the back of his mind, and he raised his pokedex, focusing in on the Fire Stones. He could have sworn they were flashing in the stable light of the room. Scorch whined again, rearing up and pawing at the air. Her eyes burned with the light of her inner flame.

Ash snapped his hand into the container, fingers wrapping around one of the Fire Stones. The cloth bag it was in did almost nothing to protect his hand from the heat, but he managed to rip his backpack off and shove it in. Scorch barked, reaching forward, but Ash shushed her again. "Not now," he said. "After. We'll find Gideon and then I'll let you have it."

That seemed to snap her out of the strange, worship-like state she had been in beforehand. Shooting one look back at the room of evolution stones, Ash ran back out, followed by Scorch, and carefully closed the door behind him. His pokedex whirred as he aimed it back at the hallway, trying in vain to focus on Wraith's form.

Both of them looked at him. Ash was well aware what he had done was illegal - evolution stones beside Water Stones were rare on the best of days and he had just taken one. But it was Team Rocket. He wasn't exactly like stealing from some collector. Team Rocket had probably stolen them, too.

Ash winced as he realized he had just compared himself to Team Rocket. Shoving away the comparison, he focused back on the hallway. "Time to go, guys. Let's keep it up - I haven't seen any sign of an alarm yet, and I want to keep it that way."

He received an affirming bark and hiss, though Scorch's attention was clearly elsewhere. Giving one last look at the room, he moved onward,

Wraith sensed three more groups of Team Rocket members in various rooms, two of which were on guard. He was able to knock them out from the shadows before they could even sense him. There was one man, an angry spitting man who had punched at Wraith even as the haunter knocked him out. His fist hadn't gotten anywhere close by the time the hypnosis took hold, but Ash thought he could still hear the man's angry swears.

Ash was completely out of rope, but he did have clothes. Lots of them. So he rolled his shirts and pants as tightly as he could and tied their wrists and ankles together. By the time he finished, his bag was almost completely empty. He hoped he could get his clothing back at the end of this.

The hallway was long, but most of the rooms were empty of people. Two more storage rooms, this time with racks of pokeballs. Everything was worryingly organized - each was split into evolved and unevolved pokemon, separated by types, and had a little plaque in front of it with the pokemon names on it. There were easily more than a hundred in each room. Ash was shaking by the time he finished recording it all.

There only seemed to be three groups on guard, at least that he had found so far. He couldn't exactly ask them, as Wraith's hypnosis was getting weaker and weaker. From what he could guess from Wraith's miming, the aura was getting stronger. Wraith had hunched over, spines drooping, from the pressure. He was acting stranger than normal.

Ash reached the end of the wide hallway and turned left, coming face to face with a room. And Gideon.

The man looked just as he remembered him - dark hair, almost blue in the light, in grey and black clothing. A dark leather vest, a pokeball belt around his waist with a few spheres, and a leather thong with a single ultra ball, a sharp contrast from the yellow and the black. He grinned at Ash, standing casually with his hands in his pocket.

Scorch barked, tails flicking upward, and settled into a battle stance. Wraith stayed silent, a blank expression on his face.

Ash took a moment's glance around the room - large, spacious, seemingly some sort of formal dining room. Walking through this damn base had been like going into a house. It was clear they had built the thing to live there for long periods of time. In the back, a computer blinked with a cheerful _Message sent_! Screen, though he couldn't see anything else on it. The man shifted his weight, leaning on one of the high-backed chairs. The grin on his face stayed the same, wide and almost inviting.

"Gideon Jobane." Ash felt something between a scowl and a snarl build on his face, twisting his features into anger. He let it. Moving carefully, he shut off his pokedex and slipped it onto his waist. While he would like to record a confession from the man himself, he couldn't have the thing in his hands if he needed to command his team in battles. He balled his fists.

Wraith's claws extended further, but the haunter stayed floating next to him, bloody eyes narrowed. Ash's nails bit into his palm.

"Ash Ketchum," he responded, almost playfully. "So you do remember me."

He just glared back, fingers over his belt.

"I won't lie, I hadn't quite expected you to be the one to find my base," Gideon sighed, pushing his hair back in such a human gesture. The grin appeared back on his face. "Viper'll be pissed. He refused to believe that anyone but the League could find it."

"I'm reporting you to the League," Ash said, a growl entering his voice. Gideon had hundreds of pokemon here in his base, had maybe attacked the SS Anne, had helped kill Will. The Champion would lock him away to never see the light of day again. "You're going to prison."

Gideon shrugged, still casual. His eyes drifted over to Scorch, who growled.

"Your vulpix is quite strong for its size," he noted, giving an appreciative nod. "Six tails, too - if you join us, I could give you a choice of the highest quality Fire Stones available anywhere."

Ash stiffened. "What?"

"Join us." Gideon grinned at him as if it was a casual conversation despite the topic he was speaking about. "Most of us stay underground as you get higher in the team, but there are plenty of jobs that let you travel around and collect badges in order to compete in the Conference. In fact, we've already gotten a fair amount of trainers from your year. We might even have some of your friends."

"You're Team Rocket." Ash enforced the bite in his voice. "You kill and murder people and pokemon for your own gain."

Gideon flapped his hand, a wan smile on his face. "What group can be formed under nothing but fear and hate and anger? We came together because of a similar goal. Pokemon are lesser than humans, but that does not mean they are worthless or to be treated like scum." He sighed. "I'm afraid you've seen the worst of us so far. We are much like the Indigo League - we are not an angry people, but you see the side that the public is shown. For the League, the side that is shown is one of compassion and trust. For us, it is violence and fear-mongering."

"What the hell do you mean, a side?" Ash demanded. "Then what do you have to say for the attack on Viridian? On the base you had stationed there?"

"And who attacked first?" Gideon's voice was frustratingly calm as he corrected Ash, fingers splayed to show his open innocence. "If I recall correctly, it was your Lt. Surge and Officer Jenny who attacked our base."

"Will?"

The man laughed. "If you'll notice, Ash, that news report never said who killed Will. Someone with my name was reported as helping the killer, but being an Elite Four means getting enemies. Hundreds of people in Kanto alone were very happy to hear of his death, and I was not one of them. What would we have to gain from killing Will? He protects Indigo from other regions."

"The abuse mills? Killing trainers? Every awful thing you've done to get your hands on pokemon - what about all of the geodude in Mount Moon? Or all the drugs and mental mind blocks on your pokemon?"

Gideon's eyes narrowed. "And how would you know about that?"

Ash jerked his head. Wraith's strange, jagged silhouette rose higher, but it was sluggish. His hiss echoed around the room.

Gideon's expression cleared. "Ah. One of ours, I assume?"

"Not anymore," Ash spat. "Your words won't work on me. Team Rocket is a criminal organization and needs to be shut down."

"Such parroted words." The man sighed again. "Why don't you ask him?"

Ash was momentarily confused until Gideon gestured to Wraith. The haunter made his bloody eyes make contact with Ash's, still drooping with supposed tiredness. Ash frowned. The hypnosises he had used wouldn't have taken that much from him energy-wise, but he was reacting similarly to how he had when fighting Koga's beedrill. Why would-

Scorch jerked to attention, pointed her tails at Wraith, and released a powerful heat wave. The haunter immediately imploded, violet gases escaping upward before beginning to gather. Gideon frowned, hand rising to his ultra ball, but the ghost reformed, shrieked, and dove for the man.

Something dropped from the ceiling and spat a wave of darkness.

Wraith instinctually blinked out of his corporal form. Ash felt a soft breeze and then the haunter appeared by his side, mouth extended horribly wide and snarling. He was furious, all traces of sluggishness gone.

The pokemon on the ground chittered softly, clicking tiny claws together. It was mostly dark purple, only a few feet tall, and covered in leathery skin. Gleaming white-silver eyes peered from its angular head, jagged teeth releasing a cackle, ears twitching. A sableye, dark and ghost type. It breathed out a puff of dark energy, which quickly faded into the ambiance of the room. Ash could see where it had been hanging - there was a series of claw marks all over the walls of the room.

Gideon sighed, a grin playing over his lips. "Ah, Sableye's efforts did not go unnoticed." The dark type giggled, releasing a new wave of energy with every breath. It seemed he had found the answer behind the strange aura.

"In my defense, I did not tell her to influence your haunter," he explained, brushing his hair back. "She has a more mischevious side than my other pokemon, and her every breath releases her energy to mark her territory. But your vulpix is very perceptive."

"Recall your pokemon, Gideon, or I will defeat them. You are going to the League." Ash's voice was tight. Wraith was a barely contained force of fury beside him, Sableye's aura fully pushed from his mind. Scorch wasn't much better.

"Well, if I suppose I cannot convince you now, I can always try later, in a much more agreeing situation." A vicious split his face, a far cry from the controlled emotions he had been showing earlier. Sableye glanced up at him, a grin splitting her features.

In a split second, he had turned and ran out of the room. Sableye darted after him, much faster than he would have given her credit.

Ash gaped, but Wraith reacted. A dark pulse was charged and flung across the room, exploding against the doorframe a second after Gideon disappeared through it. Drywall shattered and flew everywhere, but then Ash and Scorch were running, Wraith leading the way as he burst through the wall as if it was nothing. More drywall fell to the ground.

He barely saw the tailend of Gideon's foot as the man ran to the right, and he quickly gave chase. Wraith was the fastest, but Scorch was right behind him, and Ash was the one lagging behind. But when he sprinted into the room that Gideon had gone into, he was stopped short.

An enormous room, one carved into the ground above to be nearly thirty feet tall. It had to be exposed to the air above, but the ceiling was still covered. It was the biggest room he had seen so far, the size of a regular gym, maybe even bigger. Panels lined the walls, covered in different colored buttons and levers. The room was done entirely in concrete, from the ceiling to the floor.

In it was a cage.

Taking up nearly all of the room, enormous bars made of some sort of metal twisted in an intricate spider web design that had had the center pulled down. The only breaks were two doors on either side and a wall of strange, black rooms, looking almost like storage compartments. Each could open directly into the cage. The whole thing caged in the center of the room - and where Gideon was. The man grinned, idly scratching at Sableye, who was perched on his shoulder.

Wraith wasted no time. He flew right after Gideon, passing through the narrow doorway and exploding toward him. The man simply grinned and clicked his fingers.

Sableye hissed, the gem in her chest gleaming even brighter, and released a powerful wave of energy. Ash didn't recognize that it was a move, just a regular attack, but Wraith still dropped to avoid it, spines flattening. Both Ash and Scorch were forced to sprint to avoid the dark energy.

Wraith hissed and made a move to attack back, but Ash tried to get control. "Wraith, back to me. Wait for it, bud. Not yet."

 _Be smart_ , Ash pleaded to the shadow in his mind. Though there wasn't a response, Wraith slowly pulled himself to a stop, jagged claws grinding against each other. His glare was split evenly for Gideon and Sableye.

Gideon, in an almost mocking manner, reached up and clicked the release on his ultra ball. A rapidash emerged, fierce and powerful. Ash recognized it as the fire type from his meeting in Viridian.

It was obvious that Rapidash knew the room it was in. Its mane flared to double the size when it caught sight of the twisted metal bars, but it stayed protectively in front of Gideon, ears twitching constantly.

"This is the training facility," Gideon said, spreading his arms. "Cage fights are surprisingly motivating for pokemon. Everyone higher than a grunt in Team Rocket has fought her, though the grunts haven't earned that right yet."

Ash stalked closer, shoulders bristling. From what he knew, Gideon liked to brag, to build up a story. If he could just keep the man talking, he could release Rhydon and have him crush the sableye-

"Viper entrusted me with two of his pokemon ever since they were defeated in the Vermillion raid," Gideon said conversationally. "I was told to train them to new levels, to new heights - what this very room was built for. I suppose we should see how successful I've been."

Rapidash whinnied on a symbol from Gideon, jerking forward to engage with Wraith. The ghost hissed, blinking out of existence to dodge the flaming horn only to reappear a second later, raking his claws over its thick fur. It turned in a second, letting its mane flare to bigger to burn Wraith's side. He hissed, dropping to the ground to slice at its legs. Scorch threw herself forward, flash fire flaring to life and quick attack blurring her movements.

Sableye chittered, breathing out an immense wave of dark energy. Wraith flinched, letting Rapidash stab at him with its horn. Scorch roared, distracting it for just enough to strike its side with iron tail.

Gideon ran backward just as Ash noticed him, Sableye at his heels, jerking open the other entrance to the cage and escaping. He barely seemed to acknowledge the fight between his pokemon and others in the cage, circling toward a board sticking out of the wall near the cage. It was protected by a clear protective casing, but he shoved it aside and grinned mockingly at Ash. He held his fingers over the multi-colored circles.

Ash had just realized that the buttons over the cage might be less than optimal when Gideon slammed his hand down. Numerous clicks rang through the air.

The first cage let loose a shrieking groan as the button was pressed, beginning to slide open. Gideon let out a wild laugh, honest emotion flickering over his face, smoke began to pour out from the bottom of the gate. It was thick and fierce, covering the ground of the cage in a few seconds. From what he could see, it was probably a buildup of smokescreen, though from how long he had no idea. Rapidash let out a fierce whinny before being recalled, disappearing through the bars only to appear right next to Gideon once again, bleeding in multiple places from Wraith's claws. The haunter and vulpix weren't distracted by their lack of a foe for very long.

More cages opened as well, mainly the smaller ones, and they opened much faster. The smallest, a mere foot by a foot, was empty. So was the next. The third was a tiny, terrified weepinbell, who pressed itself further into its cage and didn't so much as move a leaf. One of the larger ones, right next to the biggest, stayed closer, but he could hear rattling from inside. Ash cursed. The smoke over the ground thickened, hissing like an arbok as it escaped. The enormous cage opened steadily, smoke emerging like a storm.

"My boss has a psychic that knows what they're doing," Gideon conversationally, safe behind the twisting bars of metal. Rapidash brayed from beside him, pawing at the concrete below. Sableye cackled. "You'll be a welcome addition to Team Rocket. Your team as well. I'd ask you to recall them when they're knocked out to prevent further damage, but I imagine you'll have your hands full." His grin was jagged.

The cage was half open, smoke still pouring out. Ash dimly became aware of a light in the back of the cage, flickering and occasionally going black as it was blocked by some sort of massive form. His mind flashed back to Vermillion, to a hazy room filled with shadowed energy and fire. There had been one creature, one pokemon that refused to go down, one filled with rage and anger and power. One belonging to Viper.

"Charizard!" He screamed, jerking both Scorch and Wraith's attention to him. "Get back!"

Ash scrambled at his waist as the door opened further, thumping footsteps echoing from the cage that pounded their way into his bones. Gideon cackled even as he released his team, flashes of scarlet permeating the smoky haze.

Rhydon immediately took notice of the threat, roaring orders to the rest of his kin as he lumbered to a position in the front. Tide slid forward to match him, Wraith on the opposite side. Rhydon's bellow echoed through the cage, and suddenly everything was silent.

The charizard inside the cage stopped moving, seemingly listening to what was going on. With a final click, the cage door opened fully, ending at nearly ten feet off the ground. There was silence, smoke still trickling into the air and removing almost everything from Ash's vision of the other side of the room except for tail flame, still bright against the dark. Rhydon rumbled, spinning his horn.

A blast of blue fire so hot it burnt the hair off of Ash's arms burst through the cage doors, catching Rhydon square the chest. The ground tail roared in pain, pushing back a dozen feet, but then Charizard was bellowing back, lit up by the light of its flamethrower.

Nine feet tall, maybe ten. Enormous, red-blue wings double that, gleaming claws. The fire that burned on the tip of its tail was nearly the size of Ash's torso, armed with a solid white core.

Fierce blue flames roared through the air, burning away the smoke as if it was nothing. Within seconds, it was like the cage was clear again, just in time for Ash to see Charizard barrel out of its crate and slam directly into Tide.

The sealeo was thrown backward, caterwauling as he went flying. Charizard barely seemed to notice him, charging toward Rhydon as it was. The ground type roared, slamming his tail into the ground to brace himself to meet the charge, his horn lowered and claws outstretched. He was nearly three feet shorter than Rhydon but when they met, neither was able to push each other.

Wraith hissed, flying up. He shrunk his body easily to fit through the bars of the cage, but before he could do anything, there was movement from Gideon's side. Sableye had grabbed onto the cage, tiny claws finding numerous holes in order to scamper up the side. Wraith had only just emerged by the time the dark type was there, forcing him back with more waves of energy. The haunter howled his anger, reaching forward with jagged claws, but Sableye disintegrated them with dark strikes of her own paws. He retreated, spines stabbing upward in his rage. But he understood that Charizard was the threat now. Gideon - and Sableye - were for once he had defeated the fire type.

Wraith dropped like a stone, claws digging into the scales at the back of Charizard's head. The fire type tossed its head irritably, exploding one of them on its horns. Wraith reformed it, only to blink out of existence a moment before Charizard lunged backward to avoid a hit from Rhydon and passed right through where he had been.

Tide reared up, a bruise covering his chest. His body flashed white as he activated ice ball for extra protection, fur crystalizing over. After a second, he fired a powerful aurora beam, hitting Charizard across the back. It melted almost immediately.

Karma created a wall of psybeams around her, but Ash didn't have time to look at them hit. He swerved out of the way of a charging Scorch in order to get farther back - Charizard's sheer presence was painfully hot, every movement of its tail flame inflaming the air.

Gale shrieked in the distance, and Ash forced himself to turn around to see the battle. The fearow glowed with the energy of aerial ace, flashing temporarily pink as he activated agility to try and speed himself up that much. Charizard roared as Gale landed a solid hit over its back, cracking scales, but Gale managed to get his talons underneath him and flap away before Charizard's mega punch split the air where he had just been.

Karma hissed, the sound breaking through the stain in his mind, and a blur of psychic energy appeared around Charizard's mouth. Its eyes went wide, temporarily pulled out of its fight with Rhydon. With a roar, the ground type punched the ground, sending a spike of concrete jerking upward to slam into Charizard's chest. Ash frowned. That wasn't earth power. It almost looked like stone edge, a powerful rock attack.

Charizard flared its wings out, the edges glowing white-blue, and batted Tide back even as the sealeo slid forward. The ice type barked angrily, spitting brine - he had quickly realized that ice moves did nothing but evaporate near the fire type's presence. Charizard twitched as it felt the water, mouth still sealed shut. It glared darkly, managing to crack its jaw open the barest of an inch.

In an instant, a torrent of flames exploded outward. Karma's barrier shattered instantly as the pure blue fire roared over the battlefield, forcing Wraith to go intangible again and Gale to swerve out of the way. Charizard bellowed its victory, returning to its pummeling of Rhydon.

The two were hammering at each other. Punches rained down on their respective armor, seemingly unending. Charizard seemed content to keep that up forever, ignoring the other attacks from Ash's pokemon, but Gideon shouted something Ash couldn't hear. A gleam appeared in the fire type's black eyes.

It stopped its punches for a split second to fire a point-blank flamethrower in Rhydon's face.

Blue fire roared over stone-keratin, burning it no matter the type advantage. Charizard bellowed in fierce pride, spinning around to slam into Rhydon with its enormous tail. Blinded by the flames, Rhydon went flying. He hit the metal bars of the cage with a crack like rolling thunder.

Gale tried to cover the sudden gap in their attacking routine, darting in front of Charizard with a piercing shriek. Charizard growled, reaching forward with its enormous claws, and Gale only barely managed to activate steel wing in order to avoid a worse injury as he was batted out of the air.

They needed a distraction for Rhydon to get back up. "Wraith!"

The ghost dropped from where he was shielding Karma was a particularly powerful spray of flames, lunging forward with his claws lengthening. Charizard roared, teeth glowing, but Wraith blinked out an instant before the fire fang crunched into the air where he had been. The next second he was there again, launching three dark pulses into the fire type's face. Charizard's head snapped to the side, eyes going wide in shock. It opened its mouth to roar when Wraith flung his hand forward and sniped another dark pulse directly down its throat.

The fire type _bellowed_ , clawing at its throat. Blood welled from beneath its claws but it barely seemed to notice, spitting out a plume of black-tinted flames that roared over the ceiling. Its eyes narrowed in on Wraith.

It roared, wings fully extending to block Ash's view of anything beyond him and the ghost type. Charizard inhaled enough Ash could see its chest rise and then let loose the biggest flamethrower Ash had ever seen.

There was nothing aimed about it - Charizard merely twisted its head in every direction, blazing the sky above. In seconds, all Ash could see was blue.

Instincts took over. Ash sprinted backward until his back was against the bars, cold metal sucking the heat from his skin even as the flamethrower torched the air in front of him. Charizard kept up the attack for nearly a minute, but it mainly focused its attack on the pokemon close to him. If he hadn't gotten away in the time he did, there wouldn't be much left of him.

When the flames faded, leaving only a blackened ground and tired opponents, Ash could finally see what became of his pokemon.

Gale, Scorch, and Tide were huddled together, hidden behind the largest of Karma's shields yet. Her psionic bubble was deflated, pushing her close to the ground, but she had obviously gotten it up and kept it up through the entire fire attack. Ash kind of doubted it had been a flamethrower. Wraith was hidden near the ceiling, unable to escape the cage because of Sableye's aura but his incorporeal form only exhausting him further. Rhydon tiredly pushed himself off the ground, more black than grey. But still he turned to face Charizard, roaring a challenge. He was met with a bellow and a charge.

A sound came from beside Ash.

Tearing his eyes off of Rhydon, he looked down to see a bulbasaur.

The grass type was tiny, incredibly so, but it growled at him without fear nor care, limbs tucked beneath it in a battle stance. One lone vine emerged from its shrunken bulb, curled over its head. Its expression showed nothing but anger.

Behind it was more pokemon. The weepinbell, a pidgeotto holding its left wing awkwardly, and an oddish. All looked far more scared of Ash than he was of them, tucked as far away from the battle going on in the center of the cage. They must have been trapped in the cages - but why weren't they with the other pokeballs in the base?

The bulbasaur seemed less scared and more pissed off. It growled again at him, twitching its vine like it was two seconds from striking him. Ash forced himself to look away fully from his friends and focus on the grass type beside him. It lasted all of a heartbeat.

A crash and pained roar split the air, and Ash immediately turned. Rhydon was on his back, thrashing like a turned squirtle, and couldn't seem to get up. Gale had to move in closer to distract Charizard, wings shining a fierce silver as he dove quickly. His beak speared one of its wings but the fire type barely seemed to notice, immediately whipping around and reaching for the avian. Gale shrieked and took back to the skies, clumsily trying to avoid it in the narrow space he was in. He couldn't dodge in the cage, without an actual ceiling to use-

Bulbasaur growled again, its vine striking his chest. It forced the air from his lungs. He doubled over, gasping, but the grass type just growled. His gaze flicked up as he tried to regain his breath. It jabbed at the door.

"I don't have a key," he tried, hands splayed. Bulbasaur snarled, baring short fangs. Ash twisted around as best he could, staring at the opposite side of the latch. It was a bar latch, protected by a keyhole. While it wouldn't stop a solid charge from Rhydon, it would stop most else.

Bulbasaur growled, and the vine caught him over his ribs. His breath hissed out, thick and painful, but he could understand where it was coming from and tried not to feel angry. His heart ran too fast in his chest. "Give me a second, please!"

The ragtag, terrified group of pokemon were under Gideon's control, locked in cages and forced to fight in order to train other pokemon. They needed to escape, but Ash knew Gideon wouldn't just let them until Ash and his team were unconscious. Rhydon rumbled, trying to drag himself up to his feet in order to get back into the fray. Ash shut his eyes for a second to breathe.

He had come here to help free pokemon. His friends could handle themselves for a second. With the click of a button, Rhydon turned into a burst of scarlet mist.

Karma immediately flashed forward, trying to cover the break in their attacking team, but she didn't have the bulk needed. Charizard took ruthless advantage of it, blasting an enormous flamethrower toward the kadabra. She raised a wide shield to block it, reinforcing it twice even during the attack, shine melting in her grip. Tide threw wave after wave of brine at the fire type's undefended back. Charizard roared in annoyance, looking over its shoulder and flaring its wings. The sealeo was struck by the thick membrane, pushed back a few inches, but before he could attack back, Charizard snapped its wings back together and flicked its tail. Tide was sent rolling as the flame on the end burned his face, barking furiously.

Ash released his starter in front of the gate, where he appeared standing up. The ground type roared, made to charge at Charizard, but Ash kicked at his stomach until he finally slowed enough to look at his trainer.

His scarlet eyes were almost feral. Electricity crackled inhibited over his horn and flames broiled in his mouth, but he was calm enough for Ash to give a command. "Break the gate down." He could barely force the words out.

Rhydon rumbled, turned, and ran. The metal bars groaned under his attack, but they didn't break. Ash frowned, opening his mouth, but Rhydon was far ahead of him. Spinning his horn the fastest it had ever gone, he jabbed it into the latch.

There was a _crack_ like thunder and the entire bar exploded, bursting outward in a wave of shrapnel. Rhydon ripped his head backward, a chunk of metal still attached above his head. He growled and spun his horn again, tearing through the last piece and throwing it to the ground, before he turned and kicked at the shattered latch. With a bang, the door popped open.

Charizard narrowed in on the ground type, roared, and kicked off the metal bars of the cage. It flew forward, throwing Gale off with a glowing wing, and slammed into the ground type.

Ash fell to the ground, the wind Charizard had created throwing him back. He tried to scramble back, but he was already pressed against the metal bars. The heat scorched his skin, burning the hairs on his arm as he tried to shield his face and peeling his skin. Rhydon roared in agony as Charizard fired a blast of blue-green energy, dragon rage, scoring a clean hit across Rhydon's face. Stone-keratin armor cracked even as he launched a powerful shock wave into Charizard's chest, spreading instantly to its wings.

A wildly fired flamethrower exploded only a dozen feet from Ash's head, throwing him to the side from the explosion with the bars. Ears ringing, he could just barely make out the shriek of pain from his side.

The pidgeotto's injured wing was on fire. It desperately tried to move it to put the flames out, but it was obviously in some way broken and it could only flap it limply. Bulbasaur sprung into action, smothering the fire with its own vine, ignoring the black spreading over the green. The group of them huddled closer together, Bulbasaur taking up position in front. But they couldn't escape - Rhydon and Charizard's fight was happening directly in front of the door.

"Rhydon!" He shouted as best he could. "Get the fight back to the others - get away from the door!" His throat burned.

The ground type roared, multiple cracks present over his body from Charizard's attacks. He stomped on the ground, the concrete buckling beneath him. In a jerk, he shot upward, dodging Charizard's fist, and flew over its head toward where the others were.

He landed heavily on the ground, partially sunken into the ground because of his weight. His impromptu flee from the up-close battle had injured him even more.

But now that Charizard wasn't so close to Rhydon that his teammates could attack again without worrying about hitting the ground type. Tide blasted it with brine, though Charizard's tail flame was so powerful it just evaporated the spray before it could get close. The distraction worked well as Wraith sprang out of Gale's shadow, slamming two shadow punches into Charizard's chest before going intangible just as a dragon claw cleaved through where he had been. Scorch's flash fire flared to a painful, white-hot life, and she absorbed a partial edge of a flamethrower before it could hit Karma, allowing her to hit Charizard with a fluctuating rainbow of a psybeam.

The door creaked open, metal bars crunching against each other. He could see Bulbasaur started to herd its group toward the opening but Ash distantly heard a loud cackle and then the skitter of claws on metal. "Wraith! Distract Sableye!"

The dark type had only made it halfway over the cage when two hands grabbed at her hind legs. She jerked in surprise, turning to slash at them with glowing claws, but a well-aimed dark pulse exploded underneath her and threw her off the cage. She hit the ground with a crack, whining, but before she could go to attack the open door Gideon shouted for her back. With a hiss, she slunk back over to him, raising a protect to shield him. The door was clear.

A psybeam exploded as a flamethrower caught it, bursting in a spray of multicolored light. Ash's sight left him, ears pounding from the sound, and he distantly felt his head hit the back of the cage. He slid to the ground, covering his eyes as pain split his skull.

Ash was still gasping for breath when something wrapped around his arm. He jerked back, but the thing stayed around his wrist. When his eyes could adjust from the blasts of flame across the cage, he became aware of Bulbasaur trying to pull him out of the door.

The rest of its group was already gone, and he could see the oddish helping the pidgeotto hobble out the door and disappear into the hallway. The weepinbell was far gone. Bulbasaur growled, scarlet eyes flicking between him and the battle raging beyond. It tugged harder at its vine, forcing Ash to lurch to his feet. The grass type began walking to the door, dragging Ash behind in a manner similar to a leash.

Scorch howled, spitting a fireball at Wraith. He easily dodged, but his attention was captured, and she yipped and barked her way through a plan. Wraith's bloody eyes narrowed before widening, a grin exposed jagged fangs. Carefully, he floated his hands closer to her, wrapping them around her midsection. Gale joined the plan, teaming up with Wraith's body to distract Charizard, Karma working overtime on shielding the more defense-less Wraith.

The vulpix was lifted into the air, winching as Wraith's jagged claws dug into her sides. But with another second, Wraith flung her forward, directly into Charizard's open left wing.

It roared in surprise, only to thrash as Scorch laid all she had into the blue-black membrane, ripping at it with her claws and fangs. Slowly she began to slide down, though she got her claws in and dragged over a dozen slits into its wing. Karma flashed in, touched her tails, and teleported them both out a moment before Charizard launched an enormous flamethrower at where she had been. Flash fire or not, she didn't have a strong enough internal flame to handle fire power like that.

Charizard bellowed in pain, wings snapping out in order to fend Gale off. But that didn't hide the enormous, gaping hole through one of them, Scorch's claws having dug directly through the membrane. Blood leaked to the ground, hot and scalding, but Charizard was past caring. But its pain gave Tide the opportunity to drench its entire form in a blast of brine, freezing it only a second later with aurora beam and powder snow. For the moment before Charizard cranked its body temperature back up, it started shivering.

Gideon's face twisted. "Shit - just lose already!" An honest emotion beside casual indifference flashed across his face. Stepping closer to the wall, he began to bang on the board, the click of numerous buttons reaching Ash's ears. A low, grinding noise filled the room as something began moving.

A furious bellow split the room, even above Charizard's roar of victory as it scored a hit across Rhydon's chest. The other cage, which hadn't been opened, shook fiercely, rattling in its position, before the door was forcibly shoved upward and a tauros erupted from it.

Ash cursed all the louder. Tauros bellowed again, not scanning the room for attacks before just running at the nearest moving form. It was taller than him by a foot, each twisting horn as long as his arm, and it didn't care who it attacked. Raging aggression and not much else. It was exactly how he remembered.

More movement caught Ash's eyes. Gideon was standing behind Rapidash, who had a protect raised alongside Sableye. The draining skill must have been exhausting but both of them bore it stonily, watching the battle carefully. Every time a flamethrower got too close, they raised the power behind it, letting the heat ripple of the protect. Ash had only made eye contact for a second before the man's face twisted, snapping his fingers fiercely. Rapidash whinnied, a conflicted look over its face, but then Gideon snapped his fingers again and turned toward the opening of the cage. Sableye hissed and skittered farther away, letting it pass. It jerked the door open with its horn and entered, staying to the edges. It never got closer to Charizard than it could, but the threat it posed with still there - it zeroed in on Ash's closest pokemon, Tide, and started charging with fire flickering over its fur.

Bulbasaur snarled low in its throat, yanking at Ash's arm hard enough to make him stumble. He started to pry at the vine, doing his best to avoid injuring it. "No, wait-"

It stopped, glaring up at him with scarlet eyes. He became aware of a thick, hideous burn over its bulb, taking up a good half of it.

"My team. I've got to help them fight. Bulbasaur, get out of here - the door isn't open, but once I finish up here, I'll get it open and you can all escape. I swear it," he said, eyes watering in the immense heat. "Please. I've got to help my team. Get out of here."

Bulbasaur stared, ears twitching. With a growl, it yanked its vine back, turned, and charged toward Charizard.

Ash jerked. His team jerked as Bulbasaur blew straight past them, raising its vine. Charizard's black eyes widened temporarily in surprise, only to flash with a burning flame Ash could describe. Hatred seemed to drip from the irises, emerging in vicious snarls. It raised its arm, glowing with the power of mega punch, and backhanded Rhydon. The already-injured ground type fell over, roaring, only to have to abruptly turn and meet Tauros' charge with his claws, plates cracking under the enormous strength of the normal type.

Bulbasaur hissed, a tiny thing only two feet tall glaring up at the ten-foot behemoth whose typing was designed to take it down. It snarled right back, glittering fangs exposed, before striking.

In a flash, Bulbasaur's bulb snapped open and released a cloud of blue-white spores into the air. Charizard pulled up, wrenching back the broiling flames behind its jaw. It rose to its full height, carefully shuffling back to avoid the sleep powder. Ash narrowed his eyes even as he struggled forward - why in the world would such a powerful pokemon be scared of its natural prey's moves?

Bulbasaur took to the offensive, running beneath the powder. Instead of outright attacking, it pulled its vine back into its bulb, only to shoot it out a second later - but it hadn't. Ash could see the difference between the two vines. While the first had looked just as any bulbasaur's vine, if a little thin, this was blackened and short. If he had to guess, the top fourth had been burnt off, leaving a much less dexterous appendage.

It whipped Charizard right across the face, forcing its head to the side. The fire type roared, feral instincts coming forward, and bit down on the offending vine with a mouth full of flames. Bulbasaur immediately began glowing.

Charizard _bellowed_ as Bulbasaur activated what had to be giga drain directly in its mouth, barely seeming phased by the fire fang on its vine. Thrashing, Charizard opened its mouth and grappled for the vine, managing to grab it and yank it out. Bulbasaur seemed to almost be glowing, so full of energy as it was, and it began running the second its vine had left Charizard's mouth.

It ran underneath Charizard's right wing, the left still pressed firmly against its side, and released another cloud of spores. Charizard turned, smacking Wraith out of the way when the ghost couldn't go intangible fast enough. None of his other pokemon seemed to know what to do. Ash needed to help Bulbasaur.

"Gale! Tide! Get on that tauros, get it contained and don't let it get to the others! If it charges, stop it with aurora beam and then Gale, nail it from above. Karma, focus on the rapidash. Everyone else, back on the charizard - Scorch, focus on its wings, Wraith on its head from your height, and Rhydon-" Ash stiffened. The ground type looked loyally at him, but his body didn't seem like it could follow. He had been going toe-to-toe with the monstrous Charizard for nearly the entire battle and then had taken a few of Tauros' charges straight to the chest. But he rumbled when Ash opened his mouth, spinning his horn and slamming his tail against the ground. The message was clear. He could still fight.

"Do what you can, bud. Try and keep it distracted enough to let Bulbasaur do its thing. All of you! Keep out of Bulbasaur's way!" Only Gale had enough time for a shriek of approval before they were springing back into action, throwing their all into their assigned tasks.

Bulbasaur had been busy while he had been talking. There was a solid cloud of poison powder surrounding Charizard, though none of it seemed able to penetrate its scales. It seemed less scared of the purple spores than the blue - poison powder was heavier and couldn't float as high, and there didn't seem to be much fear that Charizard would breathe it in. It snarled, turning fruitlessly as it tried to track the desperately running Bulbasaur.

The second the grass type saw other pokemon coming back to the fight, it growled out a warning before sprinting out of the purple cloud it had created, silver claws scrabbling at the ground. Charizard zeroed in on it, great maw snapping open and released a blast of blue flame.

In a flash, Bulbasaur had thrown itself to the side, released its burned vine, and pushed it into the flamethrower. When it pulled back, the top half of it was burning merrily, fiercely red and white against the green-black of its fuel.

Bulbasaur circled around, having never stopped its run, and thrust its vine forward. The flaming appendage hit the cloud of poison powder almost in slow motion. Ash barely had time to cover his face with his arm before an explosion roared through the cage.

Stars popped in front of his eyes, a fierce ringing in his ears, and he could dimly feel concrete pressing against his back. Heat blasted above his face as Charizard shrieked, throwing flamethrowers in every direction as the explosion threw poison all over its body. Ash could feel the exact moment that his shirt caught fire.

"Tide!" His shriek was hoarse, muffled, but the sealeo heard the echoes and turned to him. Ash was writhing on the ground, trying to put out the flames crackling over his chest, but ambient heat of the air kept it going strong.

A water gun threw him back onto the ground, soaking him through instantly, but the flames were put out. Ash gasped as he felt the pain over his chest - it burned in a way he hadn't felt before, thick and sharp. But it wasn't time to focus on that now. He dragged himself back to his feet, pressing one hand against the bars of the cage to regain his balance.

Rhydon had pulled up more chunks of concrete, only having a moment to do so before he threw them at Charizard with a ferocity he didn't normally have. Charizard hit each away with mega punch, having to be focused on them. With every second of peace it had, it launched a flamethrower at the first moving target it could track, but Scorch was always there, absorbing the flames. Ash could barely see her anymore - just white-hot energy streaking around the battlefield, releasing endless waves of heat as she tried to alleviate the pressure within her own internal flame. Gale dove as best as he could in the cramped environment, only having enough space to spin three times before slamming into Tauros with the half-made drill peck. It was thrown back, only to be struck by another aurora beam, ice creeping over its back legs before it broke free with a bellow.

The shadow in his mind flared to painful life as Wraith was blasted by an errant flamethrower, corporeal form instantly incinerated. He reformed as quickly as he could, ducking behind one of Karma's many shields as he tried to regain his energy. But after a second, he ran right back into the fray, charging two dark pulses before throwing them at the base of Charizard's neck. The beast's head snapped forward, giving Karma enough time to create a barrier a foot in front of its face. When it recovered and instinctually launched another flamethrower, the flames rebounded sharply into its face, blinding it further. A furious roar echoed through the cage.

Ash coughed, smoke burning his lungs, but stood back to full attention the next second. He needed to end the battle in a different way. "Karma! Get Gideon!" Even from here, he could see the Team Rocket member's eyes widen.

"Oh no you don't," Gideon snarled, fierce anger covering his face. "Rapidash, get the kadabra."

Karma had only a second of time before the fire type was barreling toward her, avoiding Tide's hastily launched water gun and stabbing its horn toward her midsection. She teleported, drips of silver sliding down her fur as she focused all of her power through her shine. Rapidash jabbed through a barrier she formed, fire crackling off of its mane and jumping toward Karma. She was forced to teleport again, firing a psybeam as soon as she landed.

Bulbasaur ran underneath Charizard's legs, reaching out with both of its vines. The fire type roared, nearly tripping, and spun around to claw at it. Bulbasaur snarled, glowing green and absorbing a second of energy from the fire type. Charizard flinched for just long enough to let it get away.

Ash pressed one hand to his chest as if that could keep the burn down, standing fully and walking closer to the battle. As weakened as Charizard was, it wasn't defeated, but Scorch could now successfully absorb its flamethrowers and he felt safety getting close. It was time to finish this before any more of them got hurt.

He needed another teammate, needed the other battles to end- "Karma, use psychic!"

The kadabra's ears flattened at the name of the move she was still unable to fully harness, even without the dark aura produced by Sableye. But still, she held her shine up, creating a thin barrier that distracted Rapidash for the second she needed.

Blue light flashed around the cage, sharp shadows striking the ground. Charizard paused for only a second to blast a flamethrower at the kadabra, but Scorch rebounded off of Rhydon's chest in order to get high enough to absorb the attack, falling to the ground with a _crack_.

Light shone through Karma's eyes and mouth, burning her from the inside out, before she released it in a blazing streak of light. Rapidash never stood a chance - it was thrown thirty feet back to hit the other side of the cage, horn cracking as it hit the metal bars. Karma sagged to the ground, limbs trembling.

Gideon stared, open-mouthed in shock, as his prized fire type was defeated. His eyes narrowed, gaze pinning Ash like a dart. The boy glared right back, fists tight against his side.

The man wouldn't accept no as an answer. "Charizard! Fire blast!"

Charizard roared. Its eyes burned a fierce red, its tail flame decreasing slightly as it drew its power inside itself. Ash pressed fully against the cage. Fire blast in the hands of the already powerful Charizard would be devastating, he couldn't stop it-

It pulled itself up, kicked Rhydon away, and released a torrent of pure white flames.

The fire took the shape of a star almost, not lasting nearly as long as a flamethrower but infinitely more powerful. It roared toward Rhydon, burning brighter than the sun. A tiny figure kicked off the ground and took it.

Scorch screamed.

The entire fire blast was absorbed into her fur. She hit the ground with a crack and didn't move.

Charizard snorted, turning back to Rhydon. It roared, chest puffing up as it made to launch another flamethrower. Ash choked. Scorch still wasn't moving, fur blackening as her internal fire couldn't handle the attack it had just taken. She was burning. His hand fell to his waist. Her pokeball-

A snarl split the room.

Scorch ripped herself off of the ground, clutching one paw tight to her chest. She was glowing so bright Ash couldn't look at her, a spot of white-yellow-gold on this earth. Her tails flared upward, only visible by the heightening of her body.

Charizard slammed into Rhydon's chest with a flaming fist before seemingly being distracted. Its eyes flashed in the reflected light as it saw Scorch. Ash dimly heard Gideon bellow a command.

With an earth-shattering roar a being her size shouldn't have the right to create, she released it all.

A wall of fire, a perfect blue, exploded over the arena. Charizard barely had time to flare its wings to protect its face before the flames hit it, hiding its form behind the flaring boundary of heat. Ash cried out as he was torched, skin flaring up and peeling from the temperature, but nothing caught fire. The barrage lasted nearly a minute.

Scorch collapsed the minute she was finished. Ash fumbled, grabbing her pokeball, only to almost drop it from the heat burning over the metal. Palm smarting, he clicked the button and jammed it back on his belt.

Charizard emerged from the blast looking a bit like it had gotten in a fight with a volcano. With all the fire it had been spitting, including the enormous display from the beginning, it hadn't expected anything like all of that being thrown back in its face, and the hunched posture it held showed that.

Ash shook off the pain of the heat and scrambled mentally. He reached for the shadow in his mind. Wraith responded, twitching it even as he fired a twisting night shade at Charizard's horns. Though he knew Wraith couldn't talk to him as clearly or even at all like Karma, he could get his point across. Ash tried to think as loudly as he could, forming the plan on the go.

 _Tail flame. Out. No fire attacks_.

Wraith's bloody eyes flicked downward to the behemoth's tail, thrashing about as if it was its own living thing. It had nearly caught Scorch half a dozen times, writhing as it was, and the fire on the tip was still the same burning white it had been before.

Gale tucked in his wings and dove, gleaming with both aerial ace and steel wing. Charizard was barely able to dodge but it did launch a flamethrower at his retreating back, catching the bottom of his tail feathers. Gale shrieked in pain, but he provided Rhydon enough time to start fighting again before having to go back to Tauros with Tide. Ash waved his arms until he got the sealeo's attention. "Aurora beam!"

Rhydon took two hits, only sliding back a few feet, before returning with a powerful jab from his horn. Electricity crackled, jolting Charizard back. It roared in pain, wings snapping out as it focused completely on Rhydon.

 _Now_.

Wraith dove like an avenging spirit, claws detaching from their usual orbit to race upward. Charizard bellowed as they covered in its eyes. It scratched at them, heedless of the damage done to itself, and kept bellowing. Wraith opened his mouth as wide as it could go and landed on the fire type's tail.

Charizard froze. Its tail flame would burn through most everything in the universe, as the source of its fire attacks, but Wraith was from somewhere else. As soon as the fire destroyed a part of him, he reformed it as fast as he could, even as the flames ate through the back of his mouth. Actual pain filtered through his connection to Ash, forcing the boy to flinch and clutch at his head, but the fire was going down.

The fire type panicked. It flung itself around, reaching down with powerful claws glowing with blue-green energy, but Wraith saw it coming, prepared a dark pulse, and fired it directly in Charizard's face. It was pushed backward, momentarily distracted, and that gave Wraith the time he needed to detonate a shadow ball on its tail.

As soon as the ghostly energy had faded, it was clear the tail had gone out. Charizard froze.

The silence lasted only a second. Charizard screamed, trying to fire attacks but only managing bursts of air. It clawed at its throat, drawing blood, but nothing else came out. Rhydon growled, pulling himself up on shaking legs. He managed to avoid the fire type's thrashing, ducking underneath a writhing wing. That allowed him to step forward, cock his fist back, and slam it directly into the underside of Charizard's jaw.

The behemoth's black eyes widened in shock even as it toppled backward, wings beating the air. The second it landed, the earth exploded upward beneath it, tossing it ten feet upward. When it slammed back down, it didn't rise again.

Ash wanted to cheer, wanted to scream with relief, but there was more to be done. When he raised his eyes, he locked gazes with the panicked Gideon.

Honest emotion was on the man's face now. His clothes were blackened by the fire attack, a few locks of hair burnt, but it was nothing compared to the shock written over his eyes. Sableye made a chittering noise, still exuding its powerful aura through the enormous gem in its chest.

Ash turned, looking for the other opponents of the fight, but didn't have to look for long. Tide barked furiously from where he was sliding back over the battlefield. In his wake, there was Tauros - but completely frozen. Numerous stab wounds littered its entire body, one of its horns broken off by what Ash guessed was a steel wing. Its eyes were closed inside its icy prison.

The sealeo stared at him as Ash stabbed a finger toward the dark type. "Tide, finish it," he growled.

Gideon opened his mouth to shout a command before an aurora beam sniped neatly through the metal bars and slammed into Sableye, throwing her back. The time with Current allowed his aim to nail her twice more before Gideon recalled her, though Ash wasn't sure why. Immediately, a weight disappeared from Ash's shoulder as the dark aura faded away, both Karma and Wraith's eyes brightening. The haunter disappeared from view. Gideon's eyes were panicked, posture the same.

The man jerked backward, as if he wanted to run away, but Ash wouldn't give him the chance.

"Wraith, do it."

The ghost turned corporal a foot above Gideon's head and dropped. He shrieked as claws dug into his shoulder, forcibly spinning him around to meet Wraith's eyes. Baring his fangs, the ghost made short work of it in his exhausted form. Hypnosis lit the area a scarlet-pink and Gideon sagged, one last cry strangled off. Wraith dropped him to the ground, where he collapsed.

It was done. All of it. Ash tried to force air back into his lungs. It came slowly, still thick with smoke and smog, but it came. When it did, he asked his question. "Where's Bulbasaur?"

Gale, as the most uninjured of them all, gave a low shriek and took back to the air. With all the dust from the breaking concrete and explosion still filling the air, it was only his ability of keen eye that allowed him to stare straight past it and find the collapsed green form only a little ways away from where Scorch had been. Ash stumbled toward the grass type, pulling off his bag as smoothly as he could.

It was strange to dig into the thing without all of his clothes inside it, but he managed to find an empty pokeball pretty quickly. While he wouldn't lie and say he didn't want the ferocious pokemon, he was more focused on getting the unconscious thing healed. If it wasn't in a pokeball, there was a much higher chance of it getting more injured. When it was healed, he would release it, if that was what it wanted.

The pokeball bounced off. Ash frowned, checking it over. There didn't seem to be any issues with it - the whole thing looked to be in prime condition. He was about to throw it again when it struck him. Bulbasaur already had a pokeball.

His starter rumbled lowly when Ash looked at him, hunched over. Almost every plate of stone-keratin on his front was cracked in at least one place, and others in many more - blood oozed from between them. But the look he gave Ash, as tired as it was, was filled with nothing but pride.

"I'm so proud of you, bud," Ash said, bumping his head against his chest. Blood matted in his hair but he didn't care, trying to wrap his arms as far around his oldest friend as he could. "Do you think you could sense where a pokeball would be?"

The ground type rumbled, staring around. He tapped his tail against the ground, sending a ripple outward. With all the metal around making up the bars of the cage and the crates themselves, it took him nearly three minutes before he gestured at the board that Gideon had been at. Ash smiled. "Thank you." He rumbled back, but didn't make an effort to follow him when Ash stumbled over.

Though the gate was open, he was still careful about opening it further. It had been struck by the full force of Scorch's attack. His assumptions were correct - he could feel the heat even without touching it. Pressing his arms to his sides and thinking small thoughts, he managed to squirm through the opening and make his way to the board.

Six pokeballs were there, all neatly labeled in different sockets. He grabbed them all, clicking two different buttons.

Tide barked as the ice shattered, Tauros freed from within it and tucked inside its pokeball. Charizard left a thick imprint in the ground with it was recalled, the pokeball stone cold in Ash's grip.

He worked his way back into the cage to recall Bulbasaur. The little grass type was covered in light burns, one claw wrenched the wrong way, probably from catching it on the broken cement. It didn't so much as move when he recalled it, placing the pokeball on the extra slot on his waist.

Ash tucked the weepinbell, pidgeotto, and oddish's pokeballs into his bag. He'd give them to the League to break.

Now it was time for his team. Karma was the first recalled - she had barely moved since using psychic, psionic bubble almost nothing. Tide barked proudly as he was, even despite the two enormous, bleeding wounds stabbed into his chest. Gale let himself be recalled without complaint, Wraith much the same. Ash would congratulate them all later, when they were in a safe environment and healed. Now he just needed to get them to safety.

Rhydon rumbled, leaning down to pick up the unconscious Gideon. He slung him over one shoulder, positioned just carefully enough that he wouldn't get stabbed on the ground type's spikes, but was less than caring. Ash managed a wan smile as they began to work their way out of the cage.

The second gate was wide open, though the path there was not so kind. Rhydon and Charizard's earlier fight had broken most of the concrete there, leaving thick slabs sticking up in every direction, but Ash was able to pick his way through. Rhydon lumbered his way through, ignoring the numerous injuries covering his chest. Ash knew his pain tolerance was enormous, which was probably the reason he was still up and walking after fighting physically with such a beast as the one in Ash's bag.

He tried not to think about that. Instead, he stepped forward, ignoring the pain in his chest even as it grew steadily worse with constant movement, clutching at the straps of his bag like a lifeline. Rhydon rumbled, concerned, but Ash brushed it off with a shake of his head.

The other Team Rocket members were still tied up, though Ash couldn't help a chuckle at the angry man wrapped up in discarded shirts and pants. Rhydon growled at one who seemed to have moved, only to realize it was just from the shaking of his footsteps. Ash could feel the weight of all of their pokeballs in his bag. There was a regular growlithe in there next to Charizard. From the outside, it was impossible to tell which was which.

They reached the trapdoor. Rhydon growled, shifting Gideon to a more comfortable position and jabbed his claws upward. There was a distance rumbling roar, and then dirt rained through the sudden cracks in the trapdoor. He had a pleased expression as he held it open, allowing Ash through. Rhydon had shattered the earth near the trapdoor, removing its hinges and making it as useful as a piece of metal on the ground.

Ash's legs were shaking, the pain returning. Rhydon looked no better, but he could hide it, and both of them stumbled their way out of the ground. With a rumble, Rhydon slung Gideon off of his shoulder and dropped him unceremoniously on the ground. There was a crack. And then footsteps.

With a woosh, an arcanine blitzed in front of Ash.

It barked at him, wagging its enormous shaggy tail. Rhydon growled, tail thrashing and ready to summon what variant of earth power he needed, but the arcanine merely darted forward, licked Ash's face, and raced off.

Ash frowned, reaching his fingers up to feel the saliva on his cheek. Professor Oak's Arcanine, the massive beast that had been with him since his first month on his own journey. What was it-

There was a crack like thunder and Alakazam appeared before them both. Black eyes stared darkly across the clearing at the two.

And, right next to her, stood Professor Oak. The man's gaze was furious.

Ash felt about as small as a caterpie. But his exhaustion was winning out over his desire to flee, and so he tried to calm his frazzled nerves. He mostly succeeded. Professor Oak seemed to catch that, worry flashing over his eyes. Ash knew the burn over his chest must have been obvious and he wasn't exactly looking like he'd gone on a morning walk.

"League forces will be teleporting in soon. Stay where you are." Professor Oak's voice was sharp but concerned, the man's eyes flashing as he took in his whole appearance. Ash just leaned against Rhydon's side and tried to ignore the black creeping in on the edges of his vision. Now was definitely not the time. His starter rumbled, placing dull silver claws on his shoulder as gently as he could. Professor Oak stood almost awkwardly, Alakazam's eyes glowing as she communicated with him, at least until the forces started teleporting in.

There were dozens of them, appearing one after another with psychic types at their sides. Ash stared around, but they were coming so fast he couldn't recognize any of them. Professor Oak was pointing at him, mouth moving. Ash couldn't hear what he was saying. A hand landed on his shoulder.

"Come on." A woman, narrow blue eyes and a fierce expression. "With me, kid. Joy needs to see to you."

Rhydon rumbled, stomping after him. It was only after he nearly stepped on Gideon that the woman seemed to notice the knocked out Team Rocket member, a hiss escaping through clenched teeth.

They might have walked far. Ash couldn't really tell. Pink hair walked up to him with a bright smile, a syringe in hand. "You need to sleep," she said soothingly. "Your rhydon as well - what in Arceus' name happened to you?"

By the time he opened his mouth to reply, there was the prick of a needle in his upper arm, and then cool, flowing waves. Rhydon made a concerned croon as hands caught him before he fell, lowering him gently to the ground. His vision swam to black.

xXx

Ash sat bolt-upright. Wires pulled at his elbow, and he almost pulled them out on autopilot, only to look down and see a needle secured with tape on the inside of his arm. An IV was situated only a little away from his bed. With a sigh, he lowered himself back onto the bed, positioning his head on the pillow.

The pounding in his head was gone, but there was still a jagged pain in his chest that loudly proclaimed its existence with every movement he made. He looked around curiously. It was a Pokemon Center room, one of the hospital ones. White everywhere with warm yellow lights from above, helpfully dim.

Ash frowned at the covered window - it was impossible to tell what time it was. How long had it been? Where was his team?

The last question hit him the hardest. All of them had been pushed to their limits in the battle against Viper's pokemon, and there was no familiar weight around his waist. He tried to imagine what they'd need, but came up blank. It only served to make his chest twist.

For Rhydon, though, that had been the worst battle he had ever been in. Shatters over his entire chest, actually bleeding even despite his stone-keratin armor, exhaustion plaguing his body from the last time Ash saw him. He sighed, leaning further back on the bed.

It felt like years had gone by before the wooden door creaked open, a Nurse Joy appearing in the gap. She smiled warmly at his awake presence, a water bottle in her hand. His eyes zeroed in on it - his throat was scratchy and dry.

She offered it to him as soon as she got close, and he immediately grabbed onto it with his unattached arm. Drinking greedily, he finished the whole thing and gave it back to her, collapsing back with a sigh.

"How are you feeling, dear?"

He shrugged. "Fine, I guess. Are my pokemon okay? Rhydon?"

Nurse Joy straightened somewhat, shifting into a more professional tone. "All of them will recover. Your sealeo is in the polar chambers and your kadabra has been heavily sedated. I'm afraid your rhydon is still in intensive care, and your vulpix only just got out of it. A lot of his plates shattered into his skin, and we're working on getting the splinters out. Your fearow and haunter are doing well, just resting." A shadow crossed her face. "You won't be able to have them in here, I'm afraid. They're just a little large."

Ash sagged back onto the pillow. "But they're going to be okay?"

"Of course. Our team of professionals are very good at their jobs, and your pokemon will be walking around in no time. As soon as we finish getting the splinters out of your rhydon's chest, I've been authorized to use full restores on him, and he should be ready to leave the healing ward by tomorrow, or maybe the day after. The rest of your pokemon should be free around then as well, but neither your rhydon, kadabra, vulpix will be able to leave the Pokemon Center for at least three to four days. "

Time for his next pressing question. "Am I okay?"

"As good as you can be, after doing what you did. Major burns over most of your chest, mild concussion, and parts of your shirt had attached themselves to your chest. It was rather simple to detach them, just a careful procedure. You're going to have some light scarring over your chest, and we'll have to see whether your hair will regrow, but for the most part, you escaped unscathed."

One sentence stood out to him. Eyes wide, he jerked his hand up, feeling the top of his head. Still covered in hair.

Nurse Joy laughed, a light chuckle. "I meant the hair on your chest, Ash. Not your head."

He blushed, looking away. She chuckled again, turning around to set the water bottle on a metal counter behind her. When she turned back to him, he had another question. "How long was I out?"

"About nine hours," she shrugged. "Most of that was because of your own exhaustion, not the anesthesia, but you were quite determined not to sleep for too long." A smile graced her lips, though it was quickly overcome by a frown. "Speaking of which, there are some people who want to ask you questions. League personnel."

"League personnel," Ash repeated, gaze sliding up to the ceiling. Right. He had just found and attacked a Team Rocket base - there was little doubt that some people would want to know how he had found it and how he had taken it down. "When do they want to talk to me?"

"Whenever you feel up to it," she said soothingly. "They won't do anything until you say you're ready, and officially, you've been cleared for this by me-" the scowl over her face would have scared Wraith, "but I will increase your dosage of painkillers for the time it takes. Now, please just tell me when you want to talk to them. They can wait if you want to rest-"

"I'll do it now." Ash rose slightly, propping himself up on his elbows. "Where are they?"

Nurse Joy's sigh was impressive, but when she reached into her pocket, there was already a small bottle of something in it. "I though you'd say that. You trainers," she teased. "You never stop to breath, do you?"

Ash grinned and shook his head.

Nurse Joy went over to the desk, pulling out a capped syringe. She removed the cap, stuck the needle into the top of the bottle, and pulled out a fair amount of what he assumed was painkillers. Flicking it to get rid of air bubbles, she walked over to his IV and stuck it into the bag, injecting it slowly. Tossing the syringe in a marked box, she turned back to him. "I'll go and tell the people you're ready. It'll be awhile until they'll come for you, so the painkillers should kick in by then."

Ash nodded, watching the slightly different colored liquid swirl inside the IV bag. Though he had no idea of proving it was true, he could have sworn he felt the pain lessen in his chest.

Nurse Joy smiled at him one more time before leaving the room, taking the water bottle with her. Ash didn't close his eyes for fear he would fall asleep, but he tried to drown out the room with his thoughts. He had to make sure that he remembered everything that had happened in the base.

Though there wasn't a clock in the room, it didn't feel like long before Nurse Joy was coming back inside, leaving the door cracked behind her. She checked his IV, humming quietly to herself. Ash could hear muffled sounds of a conversation happening just out of his sight, though he tried not to look too hard just in case she came back around the corner.

The door swung fully open. Ash turned around to see who his questioner was.

He was tall, nearly six feet, with a kind of build that filled him out without making him seem inflated. Lean muscle, but it held more power than just an average trainer. His clothes were thick and protective, mostly grey with heavy scarlet highlights. A stylized dragon face was over his chest, somewhere between a snarl and a growl. The man's hair was a reddish scarlet, brushed back into a loose tail that still managed to look intimidating. A sliver of something blue hung from his left ear.

He wasn't wearing his signature blue, partially transparent cape and his hair wasn't styled backward, but Ash could recognize the sharp edges of the man's face anywhere. His mouth dropped open.

"Lance?"

The Champion of the Indigo League, master of dragon types and ruler over the Indigo people, nodded as he crossed the room. He dropped into a chair opposite Ash with a grace most couldn't claim, a grin over his face.

"Ash Ketchum?" His voice held a teasing tone in it, even past the slightly hoarse tone that came from training dragon types and being around the energy they constantly exuded. Ash nodded a bit foolishly.

"Yes. I mean, that's me."

Lance chuckled, face settling into an easy smile. "I'm here to ask you a few questions about what happened yesterday. What you found is being called the Jobane Storage Base, at least in the official document." Lance tossed a hand, earring swinging. "Your pokedex's recordings are being analyzed, but you stopped recording when you came across Gideon, which raises a few concerns."

Ash shook his head, eyes wide. "No, nothing like that. I guessed I was going to have to fight him, and I didn't want to be distracted by protecting the pokedex. I wasn't really thinking." His heartbeat had slowed somewhat, but it was still racing. The Champion! Here!

"And did you? Fight him?"

"Yeah. He ran out of the room I found him in and then- sorry."

Lance chuckled again. "No, please continue. Describe the entire battle."

It took Ash nearly ten minutes to walk through the story in its entirety. Lance nodded at certain parts, and Ash found himself relaxing as he talked. His voice tightened as he described Rhydon's thrashing by Charizard, and he guessed Lance could sense it by the way the man's eyes softened. Even with that, Lance was one of the most intimidating people Ash had ever met.

So focused as he was, Ash told Lance the complete part of how he took the Fire Stone for Scorch. Lance's eyebrows raised and Ash almost backpedaled, but he just settled for a sigh. The room was recorded. He'd just have to deal with it. Lance looked like he was fighting to keep down a laugh.

"And then Nurse Joy sedated me for about nine hours." His cheeks finally had gone down from their blush, and he was able to keep a more steady face. "I came here as soon as I woke up." Lance nodded, and Ash tried to get an apology in. "About the Fire Stone-"

"Don't worry about it." He waved it off, eyes sharp. Ash shut up.

Without having to ask for it, he began updating Ash on what had happened. "Charizard, Tauros, and Rapidash have been taken into League care, as well as the grunts' pokemon. We found 207 pokemon in the base, mainly of the geodude, growlithe, pikachu, and magnemite lines. Data records told us they used nearly forty various grass types to train their pokemon to the level they're at now."

"Celadon," Ash said aloud, realizing. Lance raised an eyebrow. "Back in Celadon. Team Rocket had a letter to their pokemon breeders that they didn't need their grass type shipments anymore. But I bet they still had a lot of them, so they just used them as training."

Lance's eyes brightened. "Ah, Project: Legendary. I remember the subtext there. That was you that found it?" When Ash nodded, his voice sounded impressed. "Good on you. Surge also told me you were part of the Vermillion Raid?" Another nod.

"I have another set of questions for you, but that'll be for later. I'm not the only one with questions, but we needed to know the full story before we could write a proper investigation." Lance seemed to think over something for a second, running calloused fingers through his low tail. "I've got a meeting with Giovanni tomorrow, but for the day after, I'd like to talk to you again, under less pressing circumstances." The man winked, a grin over his face. "You'll get the full story about what we did with the base after, and I can answer some of your questions I'm sure you have. I don't have much time today, but I should after Giovanni."

Ash puffed up, pride unfolding in his chest. "Yeah. That'd be cool."

Lance nodded, a grin on his face. Ash returned it a bit hesitantly, painfully aware of the bandages over his chest and the white hospital sheets tucked up to his lower chest. Lance stood up, making a move to leave the room before stopping. Something flashed over his face. "And don't think you won't be rewarded, either."

Ash raised his eyebrows.

"In accordance with the law, captures made by Team Rocket have no legal standing, and the League has decided that you would be allowed to have your choice of the rescued pokemon from the base. There are several strong pokemon that you like, but I feel that the bulbasaur might be the one you could help the most. If you'd like, you could ask it to be on your team. I'd confirm it with Jeanne first, but it sounds like it could be a strong member." His earring caught the light as he walked over to the door, twisting enough to give Ash a full view of what it was - half of a blue scale, smoothed with a tiny hook on top. "It deserves a good home."

Ash blinked, a smile spreading over his face. Bulbasaur did. "I'd really like that. I'd think I could help it out."

Lance chuckled. "I have no doubt." Another pause, this one joined by another grin. "That's not all, Ash, that's just what the League is giving you. I have something else you might like as well."

With that, Lance left the room. The second the door closed, Ash collapsed back onto his chair, letting out a long breath. He had just talked to the Champion of the Indigo League without freaking out.

If Gary was here, Ash would have shoved it in his face until kingdom come.

xXx

 **And here's chapter nine. Hope you guys enjoyed it. The ending is a little choppy, but I'm pretty proud of the start.**

 **Here are the rules for the tournament: I'll need a short description of the trainer's appearance, personality, and quirks. For the team, there can't be any legendaries, and shinies and pseudo-legendaries will be looked at more harshly than others. For a reference in this universe: water stones are common, others, not so much. Final forms are hard to reach for three-stage evolutions, egg moves are rather rare, and the Trio pokemon are able to at least roughly communicate with their trainers. I'll need their moveset, basic personality, and possibly battle strategies. I might allow one or two trainers with actual starter pokemon, but they'll need to have a really good reason for it, and the people organizing the tournament just came from Unova, so there may be a few Unovan trainers.**

 **It should be in chapter twelve, so have fun with that.**

 **Anyway, please enjoy and review!**


	10. Recovery

"Ash Ketchum!"

Ash blinked. He had just been released from the care ward he had been stuck in for a day, the only sounds being the beep of his heart monitor and the silence of his own thoughts. Nurse Joy had provided him with several books to read, but they weren't exactly the height of interesting for a ten-year-old trainer, and he was bored again quickly. But now he was free, allowed to wander the Pokemon Center, get his own room, and eat in the trainer room. A lengthened leash, but a leash all the same. Ash's anger and worry had nowhere to go in this contained center.

Footsteps thumped against carpet. He turned around, barely managed to recognize the figure fast approaching.

Professor Oak just about barreled down the hallway, bushy hair sticking up and lab coat flaring out behind him. A young trainer made an almost inaudible squeak and pressed herself against the wall to avoid him.

Ash wasn't much better. Pressing one hand against the bandages still thick over his chest and another on the wall, he grinned as widely as he could toward the approaching man and tried to make himself look casual and relaxed. He doubted it worked. His heart skipped a beat.

Professor Oak slowed before coming to a stop. His eyes were bagged from lack of sleep and full of concern. "Are you okay? Were you released?"

"Yeah." Ash nodded his head, still trying to keep that wide, unconcerned grin up. "Nurse Joy said I won't be able to leave the Pokemon Center for a while and my team is still being healed, but I'm free to walk around and stuff." He paused for a second, still avoiding the professor's bright gaze. "I feel fine."

Professor Oak released a shallow breath, shoulders sagging for a second before he pulled himself together. "May I come into your room to talk?"

The man rarely asked permission like that lightly. Ash had been mentally preparing himself for this, ever since he had come to his senses in the middle of the Viridian Forest. Screaming at Professor Oak was not something you did lightly, no matter how well you knew him, and then Ash had gone and attacked a Team Rocket base. He nodded, carefully removing his balancing hand from the wall and turning to his door. His chest tightened as he swayed. Ash knew he wasn't glass, but it sometimes felt like it, as wrapped in bandages and on as medications as he was. Even walking up the stairs had brought his breath to the top of his throat.

He slid his key into the lock and pushing it open. Nurse Joy had put his clothes already in it, but the rest of his supplies was still being checked over by the League, mainly because of his pokedex recording. Professor Oak stepped inside, stepping next to the bed as he waited for Ash to come in. He did so, hobbling a bit over to the pulled out chair and sitting down. They made eye contact, brown against brown.

"Are you okay?" Professor Oak repeated.

"It still hurts," Ash admitted, now in the safety of his room. His posture slumped a little more over the back of the chair. "Nurse Joy has me on a lot of painkillers, but these stupid burns are taking forever to heal." He gestured at his chest, at the barest hints of white bandages that could be seen through the collar of his shirt. She was replacing them every three days and said that they would be removed shortly, but Ash didn't really know.

Professor Oak sighed, eyes closing. "Thank Arceus." The man seemed so tired at that moment. Ash looked away.

"Now. Do you understand what you did was incredibly stupid?"

"Yes." At Professor Oak's raised eyebrow, he hastened to continue. "I shouldn't have done it like I did. I didn't call anyone, or talk to you or the League, or even tell anyone where I was going. I was angry and wasn't thinking straight."

"No, you were not." The man sighed again, this time deeper. "Will was killed and you were worried you or your mother would be next. In part, this is my fault. I forget that you are just ten years old, off in the world for the first time, and you have lived with only the comforts of your pokemon as companionship. You wanted to do something instead of just try and calm down."

Ash still remembered Alakazam's dull black eyes, the rush of teleportation as Professor Oak just pushed him away. That had only inflamed him. He dropped his head again.

"I cannot fault you for reacting intensely, and I understand you did good that day, but you were not correct in doing so. Let me tell you what could have and did go wrong."

Ash raised his eyes, meeting the blank gaze of Professor Oak. The man was still sagged with exhaustion and concern ran rampant, but there was something harsher. Colder. This was the person who had defended Pallet Town and the League for the past decades.

"Rhydon is still in intensive care, and it has been three days. His plates are still shattered and they've started regrowing over his skin, trapping the splinters inside. Nurse Joy and her team are having to, quite literally, rip him open in order to get them out. Your vulpix has been in a frozen chamber for the same time, and her internal flame has yet to calm down. It could be permanently affected. Your kadabra has not woken up since we took her off her sedatives, and your sealeo is still healing from two puncture wounds to his chest. As for your fearow, he is mostly healed, but has two hairline fractures in his radius, and your haunter has had to be injected with liquid max ether to regain his energy."

Ash made a muffled sound he couldn't control. It hadn't been that bad. He had seen them all afterward, Rhydon had walked him out of the base, they had all communicated with him positively. Only Scorch had been knocked out, and she had released the pressure in her internal flame. "But Nurse Joy said-"

"You had just woken up after being attacked by a high-ranking Team Rocket admin. Any bad news could have sent you into shock, more so than you already were. Of course she didn't tell you!"

Professor Oak cut off the bite of his last statement with a click of his teeth, looking sharply to the side. Ash collapsed further against his chair, breath tight in his chest. He didn't have anything to say.

It made sense, in a horribly twisted way, and Ash knew he would have broken down his own door rather than stand back as his team was in that condition. But what could he have done? Make things worse?

After a moment, Professor Oak regained control, looking back over with dull eyes. "And that's not excusing how injured you were, Ash. The battle you went through was intense, dangerous, and real, and I won't lie to you. If the decision was up to just my emotional side, you would be on probation before you had even woken up. I might even revoke your training license."

Ash's eyes went impossibly wide. He made a motion as if to stand up but Professor Oak waved him down, the man's gaze fixed on the wall as if it held all the answers to questions he hadn't asked.

"But I know that you've encountered Team Rocket or their echoes three times, and only one of your own volition. And each time, you've stood up to them, damn the consequences. You and your team have grown strong fighting them."

A wan smile fought past the frown on his face, softening his eyes. "You are your mother's son." He paused for a moment. "She fought against Team Rocket, even in the early stages of her pregnancy with you. Delia is a fierce warrior to the end."

Ash had known his mother was a trainer, and a good one at that. Her mr. mime had defended his house against wild spearow flocks since he was born seemingly without effort, and he knew she had other pokemon. She hadn't shown them to him, despite many pleadings. But fighting Team Rocket? That was more along the lines of the champions or the League.

 _And me, I guess_. Ash didn't know what to think about that.

Professor Oak's gaze struck Ash like a physical blow. "I will not be stopping you from being a trainer, Ash. But I can see that whether I like it or not, you are going to keep fighting Team Rocket."

"Three is a powerful number in Kanto, Johto, and many other regions," he said, tone going soft. He didn't seem to be speaking to Ash anymore. "Chance encounters rarely occur at such a rate that they would be noticed. I feel that there is more to this than just a random happening."

He snapped back to focus on Ash. "I will allow you to keep training. But I will be showing you how to fight Team Rocket like the villains they are, not like trainer battles. If you are serious about continuing on the path you have both set for yourself and followed from your parents, then you will do it right, or you will not follow it for much longer."

There was silence. Ash swallowed. After Professor Oak's threat, he hadn't known what to expect, but this was both better than what he could have imagined and worse.

Was he going to fight Team Rocket again? While it hadn't been something he had set out on his journey to do, Wraith had shown him a darker side of the pokemon world, and he knew he would fight them. He hadn't thought about it before, not as a conscious decision, but he knew all the same.

He answered his own silent question out loud. "Yes." After a moment, he clarified. "I'll learn how to do it right."

xXx

Jeanne Matori was just as he remembered her - dark hair, narrow glasses, professional suit. In fact, he wasn't positive or not whether she had changed clothes since Viridian. She looked at him over the brim of her glasses from across the room, a single eyebrow raised.

He raised a hand, though he didn't wave it. Nurse Joy finished pointing at him and walked away, leaving Jeanne alone. She crossed the room almost stiffly, back straight, and stopped in front of him.

"Ash Ketchum, I presume?" At his nod, she continued. "And how is your rhyhorn doing?"

He blinked. "You remember me?"

"Of course. Mr. Giovanni instructs me to keep an eye on all trainers that leave his gym." She looked at the clipboard in her hands, brown eyes flashing. "Your personal effects have been inspected and deemed safe to be returned to you. Your clothes have been given to Nurse Joy, who is in the process of washing them." Ash thought he could detect a spark of humor in her eyes, but she didn't acknowledge it outright.

He took the offered bag, scanning through its contents quickly. His biodegradable twine was gone, probably not having stood up that well to the grunts' struggles, but everything else was back. He'd have to reorganize everything, which would be annoying, but at least he had everything. His pokedex was sitting proudly in the first pocket, fully charged. That was nice. There was no bag in the second pocket, which made sense. He still couldn't quite believe that he had both taped himself stealing and then admitted it to the Indigo Champion. Ash was not entirely proud of that memory.

The thought that had been in his head for the entirety of the past two days reared its head. He looked back up her, which earned him another raised eyebrow.

"Champion Lance told me the League was approving me to talk to the bulbasaur in my bag?"

Her expression cleared. "Ah, Mr. Hebi told me of it." Ash found it a little strange that most gym leaders, like Giovanni, went by their last name, while Lance always went by his first. "In fact, I have its pokeball here." She reached into a hidden pocket, removing a shrunken pokeball. A tiny sticker was on its surface.

"This process is rather similar to what you went through with your gastly in Viridian, Mr. Ketchum. You will be allowed to talk with the bulbasaur, during which it will either let itself be captured or not. If it does, you will be required to get confirmation from a League official that it is allowing you to capture it. After that, you will receive a list of the requirements of its care, including how to nurse it back to health and let it recover from its... mistreatments at the hands of Gideon. I would suggest letting it and your haunter spend time together. From what I have gathered, your haunter - Wraith, was it? - has managed to readapt into normal civil life rather quickly, though the fact he was under a psychic block instead of drugs must come in play. The bulbasaur will most likely not be as aggressive because of the nature of its position in the Base, but nevertheless, it will take time to properly train."

Ash nodded. He had predicted much of the same thing, even from his little interaction with the grass type. It seemed to be a protector, given by both its herd and its willingness to haul his sorry self out of the cage during the fight, and he doubted it would have the same vicious attitude Wraith had had in the beginning.

Her suggestion was also useful. Wraith would be a good pokemon to talk with Bulbasaur. From what he had seen, they had similar personalities, though not exactly the same. He reached out to take the pokeball but Jeanne jerked it away from him, glasses flashing.

"Not until your team is returned to you, Mr. Ketchum. I would not like you to have an aggressive pokemon on your hands until you can handle it. When Ms. Joy contacts me, I will give her the pokeball." Ash sighed but nodded his head. That made sense.

She opened her mouth to reply again, but stopped. Her iris' lit up with an inner glow, a pale blue. She didn't talk for nearly a minute, eyes never moving from their fixed position on the wall behind him.

When she talked again, it was surprisingly sudden. "Mr. Giovanni requires me. I apologize, but I must take my leave." Without another word, she spun on her heel and walked off, clipboard clenched in her hands. The pokeball was slipped smoothly back in her pocket, but Ash guessed she would hand it off later.

Bulbasaur. The grass type more than deserved something better than what it had been given.

He would do his best to do just that.

xXx

Ash hurriedly kicked his bag under his bed. After a moment's hesitation, he put the throw under it as well, there was no chance he could fold it in time. His pokedex was tossed - gently - into the closet.

When he finished, it was almost like his room had already been clean. A knock tapped politely on his door. "Coming!" He shouted, diving for the door.

Ash prayed to his lucky stars that Nurse Joy had called ahead to tell him Lance was coming. At least he had been awake. His chest tinged lightly from the hurried movement he had put it through but he ignored it in favor of clicking the locking mechanism and pulling it open. On the other side, Champion Lance grinned at him.

The man seemed more relaxed than the first time they had met. His hair, while still in a tail, had old gel in it. It glittered in the overhead lights. Ash guessed that was how he managed to get the enormous spike he had whenever in public. His earring was in position, but now his clothing was more casual, one of the resistant-to-everything trainer outfits Silph Co sold. He couldn't remember the name. After a moment, he stood back to let the man in, closing the door quickly behind them both.

"Hello again, Ash," Lance said, walking over to sit down on one of the available chairs.

"Hi," Ash answered back. He was very proud of how collected his voice was. He took the seat by the desk, leaning against the back and trying to exude the same level of calm that Lance did.

"I don't have too long today, not enough to bring you up to snuff on what has happened." His face was apologetic."But I wanted to bring you some words of warning. The League is very happy with what you've done, but I would also take caution." Lance sighed, clasping his hands together. "You did a good thing, but not very smartly. I assume Professor Oak has already talked to you?"

Ash's cheeks colored. "Yeah. He's been teaching me what to do in those situations and who to contact."

"That's good. I won't say no to you taking down more Team Rocket members if you find them, but make sure you can come out of that encounter alive. We like to avoid trading lives." There was a moment of silence. His face was dead serious. "Gideon Jobane helped take down a member of the Elite Four," Lance said, a shadow crossing over his eyes. "If you keep fighting, stick to the ones you can win."

"I will." Ash nodded, maintaining eye contact. "I know that I didn't go about it right last time but I won't make the same mistakes again."

"Are you planning to keep fighting Team Rocket?"

Ash blinked. The same question again. "Yes."

Lance stared at him, earring seeming to pulse lightly. Ash forced himself not to look away from the man's strangely bright eyes. He couldn't pick out a single emotion from the champion's gaze.

And like that, it was as if a switch had been flicked. A grin flashed over Lance's face and he leaned back, settling easily against the chair and flicking his fingers. Ash relaxed as well, but his shoulders were tight. He knew he had screwed up. If both Lance and Professor Oak dressed him down like this, there was little doubt that whatever he had done would have to change.

"I met with your team," Lance said after a moment of silence. "I wasn't able to see your rhydon or haunter, but Nurse Joy let me see the others." At Ash's confused look, he continued. "I just wanted to see the pokemon that brought down the Jobane Storage Base. Nurse Joy only let me see them through the observation windows, and I didn't bother them in the slightest."

"Oh." Ash couldn't help but wonder why Wraith was unavailable. Nurse Joy had told him he was mostly uninjured. But Professor Oak had said he was still exhausted - his shoulders hunched a little more.

"Your kadabra is strong," Lance noted, a look on his face. "She has very good blocks up. From training with your haunter?" Ash nodded. "I could sense it - even from outside the room. She's got a bright future ahead with how much power she's wielding, and I believe she'll take you to great places. Pure silver spoon, too. That must have been expensive for a starting trainer."

Ash flushed. "That's what she wanted."

"That's how to treat your team," he chuckled. A buzz shook the room - Lance raised his arm to look at the pokenav was on his wrist. It gave another beep before falling silent. The Champion sighed, tapping a few buttons on the touchscreen surface. Another beep came a second later. He closed his eyes before opening them again.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave now, Ash," he said. "Professor Oak knows what information you're cleared for, and he would be the best to talk to about what has happened after you took down the Base. I'm sorry I couldn't be the one to." Before Ash could wave away his apology, a look crossed Lance's face, quickly followed by a grin.

He reached into his pocket, pulling out a package a little larger than a fist. Lance ran his fingers over it for a second before tossing it to Ash, who instinctively caught it, although he nearly fumbled. "And here's my prize to you. I find myself having strange memory loss of when you talked to me, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to focus on other, more important things right now."

Before Ash's confusion could fully manifest, Lance stood up, clicking his finger against his earring. A hollow note rang out, and Ash could feel something in the sound, a whisper. The Champion said his goodbyes, a grin still on his face, and then he left the room.

Ash waited a second before going to the package. It was heavy, wrapped in a cloth bag, and tied with a thin cord. He undid the rather impressive knot and held it upside down, letting the sturdy object fall into his palm. Immediately, it was pressingly hot.

Warm red-yellow light flickered through his fingers as the Fire Stone was bared to the air. Ash leaned against the back of his chair and laughed.

xXx

"Ashy?"

Ash had rarely felt as guilty as he did in the current moment. Summoning a smile, he looked at his mother through the videophone. Her eyes glimmered with held tears. "Hey, Mom."

"Arceus, are you alright? Professor Oak just called me up and then you're here. Where did you get that burn on your neck? And your face! Ash, you're scarred! What did that charizard do to you…"

Her voice slowly faded out as she regained control over herself. Ash felt like a solid lead weight was attached to his chest. Her eyes glittered.

"Please tell me," she said softly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mom. I really am." Ash felt like his voice was decidedly unconvincing. "My team is getting healed up, and Nurse Joy already took my bandages off. Just a few days of burn heals and then I'll be ready to travel again."

She reached forward to touch the screen. "Travel? But Ashy, shouldn't you relax for a little bit?" He could see her toss around for something. "Come back to Pallet Town. You have plenty of time to prepare for the Conference, you can take some more time off-"

"Ash agreed to travel with another trainer for a few weeks, in order to let his team heal and recuperate. He'll be safe and protected."

Ash jerked, spinning around to fully look at Professor Oak. Though the man was staring at Delia with a relaxed face, Ash could see the twitch of his lips. But the man calmed quickly, smiling warmly at Delia as she let out a soft sound of happiness.

"Oh, Ashy, thank you! I don't want you stomping around right after that." Delia's voice almost cracked. "Professor, that's a great idea. Ash, who are you traveling with? Someone you know, or is it an ACE trainer?"

He was a little busy glaring at Professor Oak, but he managed to fight down the frustration. Professor Oak was good - there was no chance he could turn down such an offer in front of his mother, especially when she was so nervous. He tried for a grin. "I don't know yet, but I'm hoping for Gary, or maybe Leaf."

Professor Oak stiffened. "I'm afraid Gary is available right now, Ash," he said warmly, but Ash could hear the apprehension in his voice. "He's… performing a task for me right now, and isn't traveling. He'll be back on the road soon, but I don't think you'll want to be the Pokemon Center for that long."

"Oh." Ash frowned, but he didn't press it. He was more focused on his mother. "I guess I'll ask Leaf."

Delia smiled, but her eyes were still shining. "Thank you, Ashy. I know you won't travel with her forever, but even just a few weeks would be enough. I just want you to stay safe, okay?"

His chest tightened, but his returning smile was real. They said their goodbyes, and Ash didn't update her on how his journey had been going. Judging by everything, Professor Oak had already told her.

The videophone clicked off. Ash turned to Professor Oak with lowered eyebrows. "I agreed?"

He shrugged, a grin returning to flicker over his face before being replaced with faux solemness. "Well, you did, didn't you? If you really wanted to, you could have refused."

Ash sighed. Professor Oak chuckled softly and patted his shoulder, smile warm. "It's just until you head out to Cinnabar Island, at least if you still want to. I'm sorry you can't go with Gary, but if you want to get out of here faster, a fellow trainer would do that for you. You could rely on them in emergencies while still letting your pokemon finish healing, instead of having to wait until they were ready to defend you."

"And besides, both I and Delia would feel better if you had someone to rely on and talk to after what you went through. Team Rocket isn't a regular gym battle and your team was very injured. She understands that the travel bug helps you calm down - I'm quite proud she's not dragging you back to Pallet Town right now to make sure you're safe." He chuckled at Ash's panicked expression. "Yes, she did tell me that herself."

"Alright, alright, you convinced me," Ash groused, swatting at the man's hand. Professor Oak laughed, retracting it. "Do you know where she is?"

Professor Oak paused, gaze flicking up as he thought. "The last I checked, she was heading toward Victory Road in order to get to Tohjo Falls. If I'm correct, she'll be at the Pokemon Center there, which would let us call her." A wan smile spread over his face. "She has a very tight schedule. I doubt she'll be anywhere else."

Tohjo Falls. They were the connecting barrier between Kanto and Johto, taking the form on an enormous reserve with a bigger territory and laxer rules than the Safari Zone. While there wasn't exactly very exotic pokemon that could be found there, they were a mix of both Kanto and Johto natives, and they were strong. But the biggest point of interest, as well as the thing the reserve had been named for, was the Fall itself, a powerful waterfall that came down from the top of the mountain range. It wasn't as popular of a destination as others, but it still garnered a good following. It would be a nice training ground as he recovered.

"I'd like to go there. Can we call her?"

"I see no reason not to. I'll contact Nurse Joy - if she's at the Pokemon Center, Nurse Joy can reach her. Let me call her."

Ash got out of the seat, offering it to the man. He got in easily, pulling up the keypad. Typing in a number with the ease of having done it many times, he dialed up the other center and waited patiently. Ash scooted around him in order to see the screen as well.

It came to life after only thirty seconds, a warm face appearing in front of a cream background. "Hello, you are calling the Victory Road Pokemon Center, how may I help- Professor Oak!"

He smiled warmly. "Hello. I was wondering whether you had a Romane Chikara in your center?"

Nurse Joy nodded, a little flush on her cheeks, and turned to the side. Ash knew that every trainer scanned their Trainer ID when they used League trainer resources and used legal names, but it was still strange to hear Leaf's non-nickname. It had been years since he'd called her that.

"She's in here, just checked in yesterday. Would you like to speak to her?"

He nodded his head. "Yes please."

"Of course, right away!"

The screen went black again, and Professor Oak let out a small chuckle and stood back. "I've worked closely with her for many years, but she still gets flustered every time she speaks with me." They exchanged a smile before Ash took the seat, Professor Oak standing back to let him in. The screen stayed black before it eventually flashed back on, revealing Leaf.

She looked different than Ash remembered, which wasn't surprising. Her light brown hair, which had been shoulder length, had been neatly shorn into an almost boyish cut. Her skin was much darker with a light tan line from the hat she always wore, though it was still very pale. A narrow cut was on her cheek, probably from a branch of some sort, and it looked to be already fading. Her brown eyes brightened. "Ketchum!"

"Leaf." Ash grinned widely, another mirrored on her face. "Long time no see, eh?"

She scoffed. "Of course! Why are you calling me? Nurse Joy said it was Professor Oak."

He paused, then sucked in a breath and steeled himself. It was better to just get the question out then drag it into excessiveness. "I was wondering whether you'd want to travel together for a while?" Even then, he said it very fast.

Leaf blinked, before a cackle split the air. "Crawlin' back, Ketchum? If you can get over here, I'll let you follow behind me." She lasted a second before her laugh faded into something more real. "Of course. Is Professor Oak going to teleport you over?"

"Yeah. It probably won't be for too long, maybe a couple of weeks." He scratched at the back of his neck. "You're going to Tohjo Falls, right?" At her nod, he continued. "Just up until we finish there, then I'll be out of your hair." He grinned. "Not that you have much else."

She sniffed in mock anger. "I'll have you know that this hair has not bothered me once since I cut it. I doubt you can say the same about your unruly mane."

Ash blinked, reaching up to touch his hair. It was rather long, extending past his ears, mainly because he hadn't had any time to cut it. He hadn't even realized how much time had gone by without one. His mom normally cut it every couple of months. Though he hadn't exactly looked at himself recently, he'd say it was almost long enough to pull into a tail. Maybe he'd copy Lance.

Leaf snickered, and he quickly retracted his hand and pretended like nothing happened. She looked off the screen, seemingly distracted, before coming back. "Why do you want to travel, though? I'm not complaining, but you seemed fine going your separate way the last time we were together."

"Professor Oak suggested it." He decided to give her a partial truth. "I just fought a… pretty intense battle, and my team is still injured. But I want to travel, and by going with another trainer, I'm able to let my team recover more naturally and not be trapped in a Pokemon Center until they're done. I just need to know that if anything happens, I'll be protected, and I'm pretty sure your pokemon are strong."

"Oh." Her fierce humor faded for a moment, and she didn't mention on his compliment. "How bad?"

"Bad," Ash said after a moment. "They'll recover, but it might take a while."

Leaf looked away for a second, a grimace on her features. "You're welcome to come over when you can. I'll be here for the next two days in order to let my team rest up a bit. Have Professor Oak teleport you over, and we'll head out."

Ash nodded, earning himself another wide grin. Leaf kept looking off screen, and before long, they had to cut their conversation short. "Someone's callin' me - talk later?" At his nod, she clicked the off button. Ash let out a sigh, leaning back against the chair. Professor Oak stepped back from around the corner and put a hand on his shoulder, smiling softly.

"Was it that bad?"

Ash sighed deeper. "It wasn't bad, really, it's just that I left her last time. And now I'm asking to travel with her, and I'm going to be relying on her pokemon to protect me if anything happens. Dead weight, you know?" He scratched the back of his neck. "I don't want to feel like I just want to travel with her because I need something."

"I can understand that," he said. "But Leaf is your friend. Would you let her travel with you?"

"Oh." Ash nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. I'll make it up to her, though."

Professor Oak smiled. "That's fine. I'll teleport you over in two days, once your team has been released. For now, though, just relax. You'll be traveling soon enough." His expression slowly changed, the smile switching to a cool expression. "But in the meantime, you have more to learn."

The slight humor Ash had been feeling faded softly, though he didn't lose it. He nodded, determined. This was a good memory, he wouldn't forget it, but now it was time to focus. Ash wasn't going to make the same mistakes he had made before. He stood up, following Professor Oak to the training room.

xXx

Gale snapped his wings down, blowing a gust of wind around the room. Ash laughed as it forcibly rearranged his hair, reaching forward to brush his fingers through Gale's crest. The fearow squawked but let him, leaning slightly into the touch. He wasn't supposed to fly until his wings were completely healed, but Nurse Joy said he was progressing at an extremely fast rate. Ash was pretty sure it was just Gale's determination to touch the skies again.

Scorch pawed at his leg repeatedly until he knelt, pushing her face into his chest. He scratched behind her ears, smoothing over the fur that she hadn't had the time to groom down properly. Heat nearly burned his fingers, but he refused to stop petting her. She churred warmly until pulling back, letting Ash meet his other pokemon.

Karma glowed, floating into the air. Her psionic bubble was still very deflated, but she was still able to hover. She looked at him with wide black eyes, ears perked and tail twitching. Though she didn't have the strength to communicate mentally with him, he could tell what she was thinking. He nodded and answered it. "I'm okay, I swear. Are you? Do you feel better?" She twitched her ears and inclined her head.

Tide barked, slapping his flippers against the ground. Ash laughed, though he did shiver when the sealeo breathed an icy burst of wind over him. Go figure that he'd be the one the least affected by fighting such dangerous opponents. Knowing Tide, he'd probably try and do it again. The ice type looked around, checking up on the other members of his team. He barely seemed to notice the two scars over his chest from Tauros' horns.

Wraith hissed, forming his hands quickly and peering over the whole group. Ash stood, turning to his fourth friend with a grin. The ghost's spines rustled with almost anxiety, claws scratching at each other, but he turned back to Ash when the boy looked at him. His shadow rose in Ash's mind.

Ash touched his belt, at the missing pokeball. Rhydon wasn't recovered enough to be released from Nurse Joy's care, but he imagined the ground type was still there, listening in with a loyal rumble. It gave him a burst of heart.

"We did it, guys," Ash said quietly. They all turned to him. Wraith's bloody eyes were wide. "We took town a Team Rocket base and captured Gideon. He won't be out ever again."

Karma's eyes gleamed at that, shine rippling around her neck.

"When we were done, the League went in and cleaned up the base, arresting all the grunts and freeing over two hundred pokemon."

Gale shrieked proudly, crest snapping up. Scorch yipped as the fearow spread his wings out, nearly catching her side, but they were all swept up in the tidal wave of victory. Karma glowed a pale blue and redirected Tide's cheerful icy breaths, but even she looked pridefully up, ears perked.

Wraith thrummed deep in Ash's bones, baritone voice whispering words he could never decipher. The haunter didn't run around and shout like the others, but he wasn't that kind of pokemon. He looked around, twitching his spines, before making eye contact with Ash. Pride and loyalty burned in the bloody irises. Slowly, he tilted his head down. Ash smiled, warmth unfolding in his chest, and nodded back. The haunter abruptly pulled up and floated away.

"We're going to spend a few more days here, then we'll be traveling to Tohjo Falls with Leaf to recover. It's been a difficult time for all of us, and we'll be using those two weeks to just relax, and maybe train a little, okay? It'll be for us to recover." He paused, thinking of the bag still in his room. "Scorch, can you come here?"

The vulpix yipped and padded forward, much slower than she normally was. As she got closer, Ash nearly began sweating, heat pouring from her body. She seemed to realize that, stopping a fair distance away with a strange expression on her face.

"Hey, Scorch," he said. She barked. "Do you remember the Fire Stone?"

Immediately, her eyes lit up. She flared her tails over her head, ears fully perked, and barked again. Fire surfaced deep in her grey eyes.

"Your internal flame is still too chaotic to evolve, but once you stabilize, I'll give it to you," he promised. She reared, tails stretching back to keep her balance, and stood there. Pawing at the air, she howled. It brought him back to Route 8, where a four-tailed fire type had challenged him in order to let her pack escape. "You'll be a ninetales."

She fell back to all fours, looking up at him. After a moment, she turned and darted back to her side, immediately yipping at Gale. The fearow squawked proudly, extending his great wings. He was still proud of his evolution, and no doubt explaining for the thirtieth time how it felt to do so. But this time, Scorch seemed much more invested, ears twitching.

Ash let them continue, the extra pokeball heavy on his waist. Gale finished, snapping his wings back to his side and looking at Ash with his sharp eyes. The rest of his team seemed to realize he wasn't done telling them information. He let out a low sigh and prepared himself.

Bulbasaur had been healed up by Nurse Joy for two nights, trying to fix the damage done to its vine and bulb over the time it had been in Gideon's care. There hadn't been much she could do. Most of it was permanent, having been done so long ago. Ash hadn't gotten the official report, Nurse Joy having too many other pokemon to work on to devote her time to one, but there had been a paragraph found in the base. Judging by the professional tone, it had probably been by Gideon himself.

Charizard had been released into a cage with fifteen grass types for training. Most had died but Bulbasaur had been able to evade the behemoth for a solid five minutes, enough for Gideon to take notice and stop the fight by using Rapidash. That allowed Bulbasaur to run back into its cage. It had 'fought' Charizard once more before the match was again stopped by Gideon. That explained where it had picked up on little tricks to fighting the fire type. It seemed like it was a fast learner.

"You guys remember Bulbasaur?"

All of them made sounds of agreement, though Tide took a second longer than most. When Ash held up the pokeball, eyes went wide. Wraith hissed.

"It's not on our team yet! We've just been given the chance to talk to it, to see whether it wants to join our team." He gave it a moment of pause. "We're going to do this differently than what we normally do. I'm only going to have it speak to one pokemon, at least in the beginning, so it isn't overwhelmed."

Scorch yipped, but after a second, she seemed to realize that being the same typing as Charizard wouldn't endear her to Bulbasaur. She stepped back. Karma's eyes flashed blue, but she didn't volunteer either - no doubt she already knew who Ash wanted. "Wraith, can you come here?"

The haunter twitched his spines, tilting his hands to the side. He drifted closer to Ash, lowering himself to the ground to be on eye level.

"This pokemon was probably born in Team Rocket like you." Wraith hissed, baring jagged fangs. "It doesn't know a life outside of that base there, and I want you to try and help it. Tell it what you went through, how you combatted that. Don't try to sell being a trainer's pokemon, just talk to it about the world outside."

Wraith's eyes cleared, and he nodded. With a look, he floated a little ways away from Ash. With a look of concentration, he rearranged the gas inside his ectoplasmic skin, shrinking the size of his spines and pulling his hands to his side. Though he didn't look at all unthreatening, it helped a little.

He met gazes with each of his pokemon before recalling them, fingers touching over the empty first slot. Wraith hissed, floating low to the ground. Ash nodded at him, grinned a bit nervously, and clicked the release.

Bulbasaur stood in the middle of the training room, halfway between the two. It glared at them both with scarlet eyes. Turning slowly, it scanned for any other threats, but soon turned back to them. It took a few steps backward to keep them both in its sight.

"Hey there, Bulbasaur," he said softly, drawing its attention. It growled, but seemed to recognize him, ears flicking up. "Are you feeling better?"

Another growl, but he thought he could hear a bit of an answer in it. He nodded, shifting his gaze to Wraith. The ghost hissed a greeting, earning a snarl in response. Despite such an aggressive sound, it didn't seem to be a threat by Wraith's reaction. Bulbasaur seemed to only growl or snarl.

After a moment, it looked back at him, ears still perked despite its narrowed eyes. He took the opportunity. "Are you hungry?"

Ash reached into the little drawstring bag he had brought and pulled out an occa berry, which Nurse Joy had recommended. He held out the orange berry, keeping his grip loose. Bulbasaur's bulb twitched, but it didn't come close. He relaxed his hand and let the berry roll off his fingers, heading toward the grass type. It stopped it with a paw, giving a narrow glance around, before biting into it with surprisingly sharp fangs. The berry was hard, but Bulbasaur got it cracked in half and eaten in record time. It growled almost happily and looked back at Ash, ears perked up. He fed it three more before straightening.

Ash debated for a while before choosing the direction he wanted the conversation to go. Bulbasaur didn't seem to have many fears, and he wanted to get rid of the biggest one.

"Charizard's gone."

Scarlet eyes widened.

"So is Tauros, and Rapidash, and every other pokemon you fought in that cage. They won't hurt you ever again."

Bulbasaur took a step backward. Its bulb twitched, the only visible sign of its emotions. Ash waited for a few moments, letting the message sink in. Its eyes lost their wide awe and it looked back up at him with nearly the same expression as it had had before. "You're free now, Bulbasaur. If you want, we could break your pokeball and release you in the wild to live your life."

It narrowed its eyes again, barely slits now.

"But if you want, you can talk to my pokemon," he offered, trying to make it sound as casual as possible. "My haunter, Wraith, was captured by Team Rocket, too. He can tell you what he went through after being freed."

Bulbasaur waited a moment, still scanning the room, before giving a short bark. Wraith hissed back, dropping close to the ground and floating closer. Even as low as he could go, he towered above the grass type, but it seemed less than afraid - if Ash had to guess, he'd think it only hated fire and flying types. Scorch and Gale might have their work cut out for them in order to be friends.

Their conversation was mostly one-sided, Wraith hissing his story as Bulbasaur growled questions. His spines kept twitching nervously, which Ash hadn't expected from the ghost, but Ash felt himself perking up as Bulbasaur's body posture relaxed more and more. It gave him a quick glance before returning its attention to Wraith.

Before long, Wraith was gesturing more wildly, claws scratching against the air and baring his fangs. Bulbasaur seemed almost amused by his actions, far less scared than it had been at the beginning. Though it kept a constant eye on Ash, it focused in on what Wraith was saying.

Ash stood awkwardly in the back, watching the tiny pokemon begin to fully talk with his friend. Before too long, though, it looked back at him and growled. Wraith gently tapped it on the head, producing a shudder and snarl, but he apparently apologized and pointed toward Ash, spines lowered.

The grass type started walking toward, staying against the wall but heading in Ash's direction. It settled on its haunches, staring up at him. After a long moment, it tilted its head down, jerking it up almost instantly.

Ash couldn't help the wide grin that grew over his face, barely containing a cry of joy. Bulbasaur stared up at him, ears twitching. "Can I scan your moves?" It nodded again, mumbling something under its breath.

The shadow in the back of his mind flared to life, bleeding thoughts across his own. Memories of battling Charizard, and Rhydon, and Karma appeared in front of him. Battle. Then a short one of Wraith rejecting a spicy berry from Scorch. The pieces connected slowly.

"You don't want to battle?" He asked softly.

Bulbasaur immediately hissed, bulb flaring open at the tip. Ash could see the tips of its vines peeking through the top, but it didn't release them, and after another second it retracted the whole thing. But the intent was clear.

"I won't make you battle, Bulbasaur. You can just be one of us, one of the team. If you don't want to, I won't make you."

The grass type made a strange churring sound deep in its throat, nodding its head. When Ash held up his pokedex again, it stared upward with narrow eyes but didn't react otherwise. Ash clicked the button, watching the screen focus in.

He had been assigned temporary access of Bulbasaur, in order to allow him to throw its pokeball. The practice was used for many battling schools or more particular tournament rules, but it only lasted as long as the official owner of the pokemon decreed. For this occasion, the League had given him two hours, marked by a little clock counting down in the corner of his pokedex. He still had plenty of time to scan Bulbasaur's moves.

 _Bulbasaur, the seed pokemon. Bulbasaur can often be found napping in bright sunlight. By absorbing sunlight, they create nourishments in their bulbs and can go days without eating. They store energy in their bulbs for large battles._

 _This bulbasaur knows the moves tackle, leech seed, vine whip, sleep powder, poison powder, bind, and giga drain. Its ability is overgrow, which gives it a burst of adrenaline in high-stress situations_.

He nodded at that. It was enough to defend itself - herself - if the need arose, and he had little doubt she could handle herself. He flashed a grin at her, which she just narrowed her eyes at. But she didn't seem nearly as hostile as she had been at the beginning.

"Welcome to the team, Bulbasaur. I'll do everything I can to make you happy here," he promised, staring directly in her eyes.

After a moment, she nodded again and churred.

xXx

Ash jerked upright. Something was trapping his arms and legs. He tried to kick it off, but it tangled and trapped and dragged him down. Panic rose up his throat - he was stuck, he couldn't escape, there was fire coming-

A steady beeping came from his side. Gideon was pressing buttons. Charizard-

Nurse Joy ran into the room, taking care not to hit the door against the wall. Ash took a worryingly long time to recognize her, but once he did, he next found that the chains around his legs were just blankets and the beeping was the monitor at his bedside. He looked down frustratingly slowly at the stickers over the side of the bed, ones he had ripped off his chest in his thrashing. That must have been what caused the beeping.

Nurse Joy moved closer to him, sitting on the edge of his bed. Ash growled and thumped against the cushions on his bed, eyes narrowed and angry at himself.

"It's okay, Ash," she soothed. "You're okay."

"I was fine yesterday," he said stubbornly, frustrated, lost. "I barely even thought of it - why did I suddenly freak out-"

She squeezed his shoulder, shutting him up. Her eyes locked onto his. "Ash, let me put it this way. Less than a week ago, you nearly died. Your team nearly died. Yesterday, you found our your team was still alive and happy, and that you would be gaining a new member. You were overcome with happiness, which happens to everyone. But now your brain is remembering what happened in order for that to happen to you."

Ash sighed, dropping back onto the bed. Fire flashed behind his eyes. He wanted his team here. "But I can't just do this all the time. I mean, that was just-"

He trailed off. There wasn't anything he knew how to say.

"You're doing amazing, Ash," she said, voice still soothing. "How many other trainers could have done what you did? You and your team are strong, and I know you'll only keep growing. This isn't the end - it's only your beginning."

Ash leaned further against his headrest, anger leaking from his body as exhaustion overtook it. "Can you tell me how Rhydon is doing?"

"He'll be able to be released to you tomorrow just in time for you to travel, but he's still too sensitive to battle." Her voice was still that soothing, soft tone, and it both calmed and angered him. He wanted Rhydon.

Nurse Joy stayed with him for a while longer, still speaking warmly, but then she had to leave. He wasn't the only patient here.

There wasn't much sleep to be had that night.

He got out of the room far too early, shoulders tight. Professor Oak's room was in the special wing, but Nurse Joy's assistant had seen his face enough to let him. He knocked sharply on the door, waited for three minutes without a response, and knocked again. The door opened a moment later.

"Ash?" The professor yawned, rubbing his eyes. He had apparently pulled close to an all-nighter again. "Are you ready to go?"

He nodded, tightening the straps of his bag around his shoulder. Having been alert and moving around for an hour, he was jittery and ready to go. Being trapped in the Pokemon Center for a week had done wonders to make him anxious.

Ash had met with Rhydon early in the morning. In the fifteen minutes they were together, he felt like an enormous weight had been rolled off his shoulders. The ground type, while sore and stiff, was the same he had always been. Ash had introduced him and the team to Bulbasaur, who took it rather easily. Scorch and Gale were treated with wariness but not hostility, and Rhydon had been acknowledged as the leader. But he needed to travel. The Pokemon Center was doing nothing for the pit in his stomach nor the restlessness of his team. They all needed to get out, to show Bulbasaur the green of the world and the sun. He brushed air out of his eyes.

"Go call Leaf, and then I'll send Alakazam over." Professor Oak yawned again, jaw popping.

Ash nodded and sped away, darting down to the videophones. Nurse Joy had given him plenty of burn heals, which he would take every morning and afternoon. She had been nice enough to get rid of the spray aspect of the medicine, making it just a drink. While pokemon medicines worked fine on humans, if less effective, they could be annoying to take.

Scanning his Trainer ID under the videophone, he waited patiently for it to open and then immediately plugged in the number Professor Oak had taught him. It came to life quickly, revealing a smiling face.

"Welcome to the Victory Road Pokemon Center, how may I help you?" Nurse Joy said, at least before she caught sight of Ash. She relaxed. "Ah. Hello, Ash."

"Hey, Nurse Joy. I'm here to talk to Leaf again."

Nurse Joy let out a sigh, pink hair swinging. "I'll grab her for you." Ash nodded and she put the call on hold, switching the video and audio feed off in favor of a black screen.

The videophone stayed blank for a solid four minutes before flaring to life. Leaf stared through the camera, a deranged grin on her face. "Hey, Ketchum, sorry 'bout that. Was grabbing my bag. How soon 'til you're over?"

"Soon." Her mood was infectious, and he could feel a grin build on his face. "Alakazam is ready to teleport me over, I just wanted to confirm with you."

She snorted, waving a hand. "No need. Nurse Joy is gettin' sick of having to tell me whenever you call, and she'll be glad to get me out of her hair. Come over." She hung up with a click, the screen flashing merrily to black.

Ash flicked the videophone off and immediately ran back upstairs. Professor Oak looked moderately more awake, eyes still bleary but hair combed and clothes arranged. He nodded as Ash approached, a smile on his face.

"I'll be sending the last of my training practices to you. Alakazam will take you to the Victory Road center, and I'll expect a call from you in two weeks, alright?" Ash nodded again, bouncing slightly. The man sighed.

Without so much as a flash or sound, Alakazam appeared in the room. She blinked her black eyes, muscles twitching, as she communicated quickly with Professor Oak. With a twitch of her ears Ash knew meant a sigh, she raised her two spoons and aimed them at him. He closed in eyes, felt a slight pressure on his shoulders, and opened them again in a new location.

The Pokemon Center was just as he knew they all looked - white, orange, and covered in glass. He looked at Alakazam, only to find her gone. She didn't want to wait around.

Ash walked over to the side of the center to stay out of everyone's way, looking around. It wasn't a large town, but it was still bigger than Pallet Town. He couldn't see Victory Road past the buildings, but it was a small, quiet town he enjoyed the feeling of. The houses were made of wood and stone, rarely over two floors, and were lined with endless flowers. It gave an almost Celadon-like smell, but nowhere near as overpowering.

After only a few minutes, the door to the center burst open and Leaf emerged. Their eyes locked.

"There you are!" He said, grinning. "I was waiting for forever. Getting lazy?"

She snorted. "You wish. Grabbed a few more potions just to be ready."

After a moment, she nodded in the direction opposite of the Pokemon Center. "Let's get going. I want to get a good distance by tonight."

"Yeah." He looked around, but if there was a directional sign, he couldn't see it. He could, however, see the shock of dark green a little ways toward where Leaf was looking. "How big is the forest compared to the others? Viridian, Fuschia, or Vermillion?"

"Route 1," she said instantly. "It's got a forest at the beginning, but everything else is mostly mountainous. Trees for the first day, mountains for the rest. Should be a max of three days before we reach the falls, and it shouldn't take too long for me to find a proper poliwhirl."

Ash nodded, though he did pause for a second. He knew that Leaf was a very organized person, despite what many people thought, but he hadn't thought that she had planned out all her different pokemon to catch. But she did want to be a fighting type master and poliwhirl could evolve into poliwrath. "Do you already have a Water Stone?"

"Not yet," she said, shaking her head. "I've been saving a lot of money, got my eye on the ones in Celadon. It's been taking forever, though, which sucks." She kicked a loose stone.

They walked in about twenty seconds of silence before she started talking again.

"It's been a royal pain staying here," Leaf complained, hauling her bag higher up on her shoulders. "I can't so much as breathe in the direction of Victory Road without being interrogated and there are constant ACE trainers running border patrols and checking bags. These falls better be worth the struggle."

Ash snorted. "Why are you going to the falls to catch a poliwhirl anyway? Aren't they pretty common near Vermillion?"

"Of course they are, but Tohjo Falls has a high population of the wooper line, which could potentially give me a poliwhirl with the egg move haze or mist. Those are really handy moves, and I feel like it would be useful for a fighting type as they could hide before attacking right out."

"You've really planned this all out," he said, a bit wide-eyed. "Why aren't you gunning for a poliwag? Maybe you could train its fighting type side up more from the beginning."

She shook her head. "Nah, poliwhirl are better. Poliwag don't have arms, and they're more focused on water attacks. Poliwhirl are the best place to start for training a fighting type."

He shrugged. "Alright. You know what's best."

"Damn right I do!" She crowed, pumping at the air. "I've been waiting for getting a poliwhirl since forever - they're my second favourite Kanto fighting type. The machop line still holds a place in my heart."

Ash grinned. They kept walking, the town fading away. Signs for Route 26 appeared with rising frequency, and he grew more and more excited. Traveling again, something he had been missing for nearly two weeks, four if he included being on _The Gyarados' Tooth_. Leaf gave him a curious look as he nearly started running to the start of the route, but he brushed it off, slowing down slightly.

Trees rose up from the earth, only barely trimmed. The wilderness seemed remarkably thick for such a small forest, but there was no way he was complaining. Leaf grinned, cracking her knuckles, and turned to him. "Teams?"

Ash's hand fell to his belt. "Of course!"

Leaf practically dragged him onto the route, traveling for less than five minutes before they found a decently sized clearing. They both went to separate sides of it and grabbed their pokeballs.

"I'm going first, Ketchum! Stand back!"

In a flash of red light, a machoke appeared. He flexed his arms, the strange, thick veins over them shining in the light. Leaf grinned, patting her starter on the arm. He was only an inch or two shorter than her and still had plenty to grow. He grunted back, scanning the clearing. When he saw Ash, he inclined his head, thumping his chest. Fighting types were known for their honor.

"He looks strong," Ash said, a grin on his face. "How long ago did he evolve?"

"Four and a half weeks ago, in the Vermillion Gym. Won me the battle against Surge's raichu." Machoke flexed again, a smirk over his reptilian face. "He's my strongest, but the others are catching up." The fighting type snorted.

There were two more flashes of light a second later. A magnemite hummed in its odd voice, floating higher into the air. Ash could feel the crackle of electricity in the air as it moved. On the opposite side, a primeape grunted and pounded its fists together.

Ash waited for a second, but noticed she only had three pokeballs on her belt. He raised his eyebrows. "Only three?"

"There's only four fighting type lines in Kanto, and tyrogue are rare enough to find. But I've going to travel to Johto at the six-month mark to catch a heracross and houndour." She adjusted the brim of her hat and gave a glare to Primeape, who grunted but lowered its fists. "Magnemite is to combat fairy and flying types, and when I catch a houndour, it'll be to fight psychic and ghosts types. I've got some dream pokemon I'll be hunting for after the Indigo Conference, mainly ralts, shroomish, or maybe even a riolu." A glimmer appeared in her eyes. "Did you know Bruno only managed to find a riolu less than a year ago? He's been searching since the start of his journey!"

Ash didn't know that, but Leaf followed Bruno more religiously than Arceus.

"Alright, show me your team! How's rhyhorn?"

With a grin, Ash released him.

Rhydon rumbled, thudding against the ground. He looked around for a second before his gaze narrowed in on Machoke. The fighting type stared up at the nearly two-feet taller ground type, red eyes going wide before he narrowed them with a snort. He pounded his fists together, power-save belt flashing once.

Leaf chuckled. "And how long ago did he evolve?"

"About a month ago, too." He patted his starter's side, grimacing at the armor on his chest. The stone-keratin was an obviously different color and much thinner than the armor surrounding it. It was still regenerating, still holding narrow cracks spreading over the surface. If Rhydon felt any pain, he didn't show it. He spun his horn, electricity crackling over the tip, and rumbled. Ash chuckled.

He released most of the rest of his team. Gale shrieked, stalking rather awkwardly away in order to glare at Leaf's team from his new position separate from the others. Ash assumed it upped the intimidation aspect of it. Scorch yipped, waves of heat pouring out of her before she forcibly reigned it in. Karma floated next to Ash, idly tracing new designs in the bottom of her shine with her claws. Tide barked, immediately narrowing in on Primeape. The pig monkey screeched back, the manacles on its limbs clanking as it pounded its fists.

He kept Bulbasaur in her pokeball. She disliked it, being as similar to a cage as it was, but he wanted to release her once everyone else had met each other. If the others picked a fight, he didn't want her to have to defend herself. He knew she would be one of the pokemon he rarely recalled.

Leaf whistled slowly, eyes flashing between Gale and Karma. "Flying and psychic, eh? I've got ways around them. And six tails! The vulpix of yours is releasing heat like no one's business."

"Her internal flame still isn't stable yet," he explained. "She absorbed too much fire during the… battle and is having trouble converting it over still. She can't even activate flash fire yet." A grin split his face, and he settled back, looking as casual as he could manage. "But they're not the worst I have." He reached out to the shadow in his mind.

Wraith emerged from his shadow, spines stabbing upward. Poison condensed on his fangs to drip into his mouth, only to be reabsorbed and recycled back into his body. Leaf jerked back, eyes wide, but she groaned, good-naturedly. "A fearow, kadabra, _and_ haunter?"

Ash grinned back. "All the more to crush you with." Wraith cackled in the back of his mind, raising jagged claws.

"And it had to be a haunter, too - the gastly line is one of the most proficient at using incorporeal forms." She sighed, giving a glance at Machoke. He was glaring fully at Wraith, red eyes narrowed. "That's not even mentioning the complete hack it is that ghosts are able to avoid normal and fighting moves. Entirely unfair."

Ash tilted his head slightly in Wraith's direction. "I didn't know we were signed up for a lecture." The haunter hissed in amusement, only for Leaf's head to snap in their direction.

"You think I'm joking? Alright, you're going to get it. Full lecture on ghost types!" She marched up to him, ignoring Wraith to sock him on the shoulder. "Get your team ready. I'll give it as we travel."

Tide barked as he was recalled, brown eyes still fixed on Primeape. The fighting screeched again as the target of its aggression vanished, but before it could do anything, Magnemite hummed softly and released a jagged spike of electricity. It struck Primeape on the top of its head, jolting it enough that Ash could see its fur stand on end. But instead of getting mad, it just growled and calmed down. Leaf was apparently quite used to the legendary rages the mankey line was known for. Her counter was brilliant.

Karma also requested to be recalled. After finishing a narrow hatch mark on her spoon, she nodded to him, disappearing the next second. She still didn't like traveling very much.

Leaf called back Magnemite, but Primeape stayed out. The fighting type bounced on the balls of its feet, stepping in line behind Machoke, who grunted at it with a swipe of his muscled arm.

When Ash was sure everyone was out who was going to be out, he clicked the release on his final pokeball, which was on the left side of his waist in the extra slot. Bulbasaur growled as she was released, looking around with scarlet eyes.

"Hey, Bulbasaur," he said. She looked up at him, but her attention was clearly captured by her surroundings. Green, grass, trees, nature - everything Gideon's cage and the Pokemon Center hadn't been. Her bulb twitched, seeming to draw her attention.

She looked up and saw the sun. Ash couldn't help the smile on his face as she made a soft sound of awe, so different from her usual snarls. Almost immediately, she looked happier, turning to look at him.

"We're getting ready to travel to Tohjo Falls, remember?" She growled at him, nodding her head slightly. "I'm not going to recall you unless an emergency, but try to stay close to the group." She twitched her ears in response.

Leaf paused in her checking up on Machoke and looked over. She jerked.

"Is that a bulbasaur?" She almost screamed, taking a step forward. Ash waved her away. Bulbasaur snarled, walking over to Wraith. The haunter floated down to be next to her, hissing softly.

"Yeah. I got her from… an abusive trainer. She's not a battling pokemon, just on my team."

Leaf's expression cleared, and a note of pain appeared in her eyes. "Ah. I'm sorry. Did you get her recently?"

"A few days ago. She's gotten used to my team and stuff, but this is the first time she's been outside, I think." Ash looked back at her. She was growling back at Wraith, who was offering her pieces of grass to inspect. It was rather cute.

Leaf nodded, before she snapped back to attention. "Ghost types time, Ketchum! I'm 'bout to educate you on why your ghost type is one of the most annoying pokemon you could have captured."

Ash smiled, preparing the rest of his team. Wraith didn't go into his shadow, sticking next to Bulbasaur as they walked. Rhydon lumbered by his side, Scorch by his feet, and Gale immediately took to the skies. Primeape stayed behind Machoke, who was next to Leaf.

"Now see, the issue isn't just normal and fighting type moves. It's their _energy_. Ghosts aren't fully connected to the mortal plane, except when pulled forward by moves like foresight, so whenever they're hit with a move that doesn't have tangible, powerful energy in it, it does nothing. It doesn't effect them at all. And the issue is that normal types are empty of natural tangible energy, so for ghosts, it's a bit like looking at a mirage. I'm surprised your haunter and fearow manage to get along as well as they do. But fighting types _do_ have energy, but it's just not enough to hit ghosts. But it is strong enough to let natural ghostly energies interact..."

xXx

Tohjo Falls was powerful, immense, and almost frightening.

Ash heard the dull roar of the waterfall nearly half a mile before they reached it, carrying through the wide mountain pass and echoing off of the heavy rock walls. Leaf grew more and more excited as time went on, pushing them all to go faster.

Bulbasaur loved the outside. Her bulb was constantly glowing green, which took Ash a little bit before discovering that she was absorbing sunlight to make into nutrients. In only three days, her skin had started to lighten and her stomach had begun filling out. Ash went through the League's care sheet every night, feeding her twice what her body size would normally get and always sleeping in a clearing that let her have every second of sunlight she could get. Leaf adjusted fine to it, and he knew that she was just excited to be so close to one of the Kanto starters.

Though Ash didn't train much, he got to see Leaf work with her pokemon. She actively worked out next to them, going through the punches and even mock-fighting with Machoke. The fighting type never used any moves and barely seemed to tap her, but they both got a good workout from it. Primeape could fly into rages when attacking and Machoke could shatter boulders. Magnemite, while not battling much, had a wicked flash cannon that could carve furrows into the mountains.

Trainers were common on the path, and Ash and Leaf split them evenly. Rhydon and Scorch didn't battle, but the rest of his team did so and thoroughly enjoyed it. Bulbasaur always sat on the sidelines, halfway behind Rhydon for his bulk to protect her from stray attacks, and simply watched the battles. She was good at that - as a not very vocal pokemon, she mainly stuck to the sidelines and just watched. It was almost eerie at times, but she had a soft growl for when they won.

Life with Bulbasaur was strange at times. When he had suggested a nickname, she had vehemently denied it. He knew Wraith had chosen one to show he was different than the others at Team Rocket, that he wasn't just a gastly in their ranks, but Bulbasaur had snarled when he had so much as mentioned it. She ate away from the others of the group, even going so far as to find a new clearing to absorb sunlight in. Ash had given up trying to keep her close after the first time, and just sent Wraith to keep an eye on her, which the ghost never seemed to mind.

Leaf grinned, twisting her hat's brim around. The roar of the waterfall grew louder and louder as they got closer, and Ash could feel the moisture in the air. Water beaded in his hair.

Before too long, the road switched to cobbled brick and signs welcomed them to Tohjo Falls. A League official scanned their Trainer IDs in order to record the number of people who visited the reserve. The cobbled street was soon overtaken by a wooden deck, multiple other people walking around on it. The sound of the waterfall grew louder.

Both Leaf and Ash gasped as they walked around the corner.

Tohjo Falls was a location, not just a single waterfall, but the Fall was more impressive than Ash could have imagined. An enormous line carved its way down the side of the mountain, gleaming white-blue. Spray exploded up with every second, and even from nearly half a mile away Ash could feel the mist. Bulbasaur growled, pressing further behind Ash. The rest of his team was already recalled except for Wraith, and Ash was glad for it - Rhydon would be miserable with the moisture.

Leaf laughed furiously, staring up at the awe of the Fall. No wonder this was what divided Kanto and Johto - the League couldn't have picked a more memorable landmark. Why hadn't he planned to go here?

They both walked around the deck, unable to remove their gazes. Bulbasaur growled, but she did seem to enjoy the high level of moisture in the air. Machoke grunted, stepping around another sight-seer, but he stayed by Leaf and seemed to enjoy the water. Wraith didn't emerge. He was quite happy to stay dry, judging by the grumbling hisses from the shadow in Ash's mind.

The deck was large, nearly the size of a gym. It was in a half circle on the very edge of the lake, providing a good viewing platform for the Fall while being far enough away to avoid most everything and being tall enough to let ships past underneath. The deck continued backward, creating a sort of boardwalk that went to the Tohjo Falls town. Ash could see the lake the waterfall fed running beneath the deck, a clear stream of fierce blue that darted off to the left in a wide river. On the side of the deck, Ash could see a path running next to the river, extending out into the forest. The continuation of Route 27.

Leaf poked his side, and he nodded. Sidestepping around a fellow trainer who was soaked to the bone, they walked toward the exit off of the deck. They'd check it more tomorrow, but Leaf wanted to set up camp first. It was getting late, and the poliwag line was not nocturnal.

Route 27 seemed like they hadn't ever encountered the Fall. While almost the entirety of Route 27 and a part of Route 26 was inside the borders of the Tohjo Falls reserve, only the actual Fall was very closely monitored. Another League official gave them a lazy salute as they hopped off the deck, punching a number into his gear, but they didn't have to scan their Trainer IDs again.

The mountain retreated almost hesitantly, letting narrow trees claim the land it had once occupied. Though it wasn't truly a mountain pass, it was more difficult to traverse than other routes Ash had been on, rocks littering from smaller avalanches and exposed roots ready to trip at any opportunity. Before the night truly had a chance to fall, they found a spot.

Leaf grinned, punching Ash's shoulder. The river gurgled pleasantly by their side, especially from where it expanded, ballooning out into a wide, sort-of pond next to the road. They weren't the first to have camped there - Ash could see that enough trainers had chosen this spot that there was a permanent fire pit - but they were the only ones currently around. Machoke picked up a couple of enormous branches, probably having been carried down by the river. There weren't many trees around, as this was a pretty mountainous area, but Tohjo Falls strictly forbid pulling live wood for fire pits in order to protect what little they had. He set them near the firepit, already looking for more.

"This'll be perfect," Leaf said, hands on her hips. "I've got a few hours of daylight and I want to get catching. You can just relax for a bit, or train if you don't do too much." She fixed him with a glare. "But if you scare away my poliwhirl, Ketchum, I'm using you as bait."

He laughed. Releasing the rest of his team, he shushed them before they started their general cries of welcome. Gale narrowed his eyes at the lack of suitable trees to perch on but found a good enough pile of rocks that had come down the mountain. He kept staring at the pond with an extended crest - swooping in and picking out water types was a major part of how he hunted.

Bulbasaur snarled as Primeape and Magnemite were released. The fighting type turned at that, eyes flashing red as it saw Wraith right behind her. It screeched at the sight of the ghost type, pounding its fists together.

Bulbasaur immediately stepped forward, the tips of her vines emerging from her bulb. Wraith hissed good naturally, floating down to be by her side. She growled at him, still tensed.

Magnemite shocked Primeape again, and it turned away with a low growl. Leaf stood in front of it, hands on her hips, and held up its pokeball. Primeape stalked off and sat near the firepit, eyes fixed on the water's edge, but it seemed to be calming down.

Leaf dug through her bag, pulling out a wrapped pole. After only a minute, she had all the different pieces locked together and the line spooled up, attaching a chunk of meat to the end. The great rod whistled as the line flew out into the water, landing with a plop.

Ash sighed, reaching to his belt and pulling out his pokedex. He explained what was going on quickly, and they all moved to their own things. Gale flew back up to his perch, tucking his head under his wing. Tide glared at Primeape, also giving a longing look to the river. When Leaf caught her poliwhirl, Tide would probably sleep in there. Karma floated to a corner, eyes burning blue as she gathered her energy. She could practice her new move without distracting Leaf or disturbing the pokemon of the river. Wraith dove into Bulbasaur's shadow, who was exploring a clump of wildflowers near the river. She glowed with giga drain, absorbing energy from anything nearby. Rhydon and Scorch curled up next to Ash, the ground type providing a useful backrest as he read.

Leaf pulled up a distracted wooper who barely seemed to notice the hook in its mouth. She sighed, pulled it out, and let it go back into the pond. A poliwag came up next, spitting water guns. Machoke punched it halfway across the pond the second Leaf got the hook out of its mouth. There were two more of the wooper line and a dazed slowpoke, but no poliwhirl yet. She sighed, throwing back a goldeen, and gave a look of frustration to Machoke. They were nearly two hours in, and night was fast approaching.

The next bite tugged hard enough to nearly yank the rod out of Leaf's hands. She growled and pulled back, Machoke's hands landing on her shoulders. The line whined, nearly pulling completely out of the rod, but then Leaf started spinning. After a second, the surface of the pond exploded upward.

Ash only caught a glimpse of blue and white before a cloud of mist filled the air, dropping the temperature fast. Bulbasaur barreled back toward his side, dragging Wraith along with her.

"Grab it!" Leaf barked. If it escaped back into the water, she would lose it, and it had already managed to get out of her hook. "Seismic toss!"

Machoke roared, reaching forward through the haze. He disappeared for a second before a blue form emerged from the cloud and flew across the clearing, slamming into a lone tree with enough force to break several branches. Machoke ran toward it, fists glowing. "Karate chop."

Poliwhirl, now that Ash could recognize it, pulled itself to its feet and met Machoke's charge head-on with a spray of bubbles. Each exploded on contact, making Machoke flinch, and it was enough for the water type to snip him with several water guns.

He was flung surprisingly far back. Machoke grunted, sprinting forward with another karate chop. Poliwhirl couldn't dodge but it did glow with what Ash guessed was body slam, throwing itself at the fighting type. It was a clean hit.

Machoke grunted, straightened, and slammed at its lower half with low kick. Poliwhirl gurgled in surprise and fell over. "Cross chop!"

The fighting type sprung forward, fists glowing, and nailed Poliwhirl right across its spiraled belly. The first hit stopped its attempt at getting up. The second nearly embedded it in the ground. Machoke jumped out of the way and Leaf threw the pokeball. It smacked against Poliwhirl's stomach and drew it inside.

One shake. Two. Click.

Leaf grinned, running forward to grab the sphere. "Finally! And that was either haze or mist, I'm not sure which. Welcome to the team, Poliwhirl!" Machoke grunted his approval, poking at his chest with a wince. It was strong, though not well-versed in actual battling.

Ash stood, petting Scorch behind her uncomfortably hot ears. "That was great! When are you going to introduce it to your other members?"

"Eh, probably tomorrow." She shrugged. "I'll let it heal up tonight and then deal with it in the morning. It didn't look aggressive, more upset at being caught." Ash nodded. He had noticed the same thing.

Tide gave a low whine, drawing Ash's attention. He flicked his tail at the pond, which was smooth again, the cloud of white fading into the air. With a chuckle, he nodded his head. Tide immediately dove in, disappearing beneath the surface.

Leaf patted the pokeball, slipping it onto her waist. "You have no idea how much easier this is going to make gym battles. I'm finally going to have some variety, which is somethin' I've been struggling with. And did you see how well it used haze? That's perfect for what I need."

Ash grinned. He understood that. "You going to train tonight, or just sleep?"

"Sleep." Leaf looked a bit mareepish. "I want to meet it as soon as possible but I want it to be at least mostly healed, and I don't want to worry 'bout it attacking me if I try with potions."

"That's fair. I'll be training, but I'll try to keep it quiet." He gave a bit of a nervous grin.

Leaf snorted. "Are you kidding? Primeape's ability is vital spirit, which makes his brain shut down in tiny sections in order to rest. He can't sleep like we do. I've got the highest quality earplugs on the planet. As long as you don't practice earthquake-" she gave Rhydon a narrowed look, "and keep it away from me, I'll be fine."

Ash laughed. "Will do. I haven't started on earthquake yet, so that should be fine."

"What? Why?" Leaf looked confused. "It's one of the most powerful ground moves that a rhydon can learn."

Ash frowned. Why hadn't he started it yet? "He's got earth power right now, and I'm working on stone edge, but earthquake is next to learn." Ah yes, that was why. "It's just a little difficult to find a proper place to practice, because-"

"-it can be very dangerous if not properly controlled." Leaf nodded. "That's cool. See you in the morning."

She gathered her pokemon, recalling Magnemite. Apparently, the steel type didn't like to be out when it didn't have to. Machoke growled at Primeape, who screeched back but headed off to sit next to the pond, slapping repeatedly at the water. "Strengthens his muscles," she said to Ash, climbing into her sleeping bag. Her earbuds were large, metal things that looked only slightly more comfortable than hunks of stone, but she slipped them easily on and closed her eyes. Machoke sat next to her, red eyes watching Ash and his team. He didn't think the fighting type would go to sleep until Ash did.

Rhydon rumbled, standing fully. He avoided the path, though there wasn't anyone on it, and headed just far enough away that Ash could see him but not feel the vibrations spreading through the earth. After a moment, a spike of rock exploded upward, nearly four feet up and half across. Earth power was about having the earth explode or move, while stone edge was simply summoning a stalagmite of rock. Stone edge would reach high and be more precise, while earth power had more, well, power. He wasn't going to be practicing any physical moves for at least another week, and this was the first night he had been able to train. Rhydon had been more than ready but Ash was strict on following Nurse Joy's instructions.

Karma's ears perked up as he walked closer, tail twitching. "How's psycho cut going?"

She raised her shine, eyes glowing. A blade of psychic energy formed between her extended claws, glowing a blue-purple. She moved it slowly, examining each angle. But when she took aim toward the side of the mountain, it fizzled out before it ever crossed the pond. Her ears flattened.

"That was good, Karma. You've got this!" Her stain hummed at him, and her ears flicked happily. "Have you tried making it smaller? Compacting the energy?" Her tail twitched. She formed another, much tinier blade, and examined it closely. Another appeared a little aways, seemingly more sturdy. She tapped it with her claw, creating a ringing note.

There was a splash, and Ash looked over just in time to see a seaking float to the surface of the pond. Tide appeared on a second later, barking proudly. The seaking was obviously knocked out, a few of its scales bruised. Ash made a move to heal it, but it fell beneath the water after another second, form fading almost immediately. Tide barked again before narrowing in on Primeape, who was still slapping the water. Before he could attack him, Ash snapped his fingers and got the sealeo's attention.

"Keep working on aqua tail, Tide," he said a bit warningly. "You can battle him tomorrow, if Leaf says okay. Not now." Tide groaned lowly but dipped below the water again.

Gale flew overhead, working on his speed, and Wraith was practicing dark pulse. Ash frowned. Wraith had one of the weakest movesets of his team, even if he was able to use them in creative manners. He pulled out his pokedex and scanned through what he could learn. Ghosts had a very varied moveset, though Wraith wouldn't come into his full potential until he evolved into gengar. But- Ash's eyes lit up. The three elemental punches.

"Wraith?"

The haunter looked up from where he had formed a dark pulse, letting it dissipate with a wince from the energy. He floated over to Ash, spines rustling.

"You need another move. What's your favourite out of fire, electricity, and ice?"

The shadow in his mind flared to life. Wraith's eyes narrowed, considering the different ones. A question was silently murmured. "The three elemental punches, you can learn them. I was planning on them for a while, but I kept getting distracted, which is my fault. But they'll give you an edge against other pokemon."

Wraith waited a long moment before answering. It was different to communicate with Wraith - with Karma, it was like she was talking to him, but for Wraith, it was more like a thought he had himself rose to the surface, pushing past the others to announce its presence. Fire.

Ash had kind of been guessing that. Wraith had a tendency to attach himself to other pokemon - given as with Bulbasaur - and Scorch was one of them, though to a lesser degree. "That makes things easier. Scorch can help you, though she can't actually use fire to help. Maybe. Don't push her." A contemplative look spread over his face. "Maybe ask Bulbasaur to listen in as well? Learning how fire attacks work could maybe help her get over her fear of them."

Wraith hissed, eyes narrowed. His spines extended upward.

Ash held his hands up. "Hey, I'm not saying force her or anything! It just might help her learn more about them. And you're the best to ask her - poison types and Team Rocket and all." Wraith hissed again, scratching claws against the air. "You don't have to."

The haunter sunk slightly, but even touching the ground he was taller than Ash. He floated over to Bulbasaur, hissing softly. After a few minutes, they both crossed over to Scorch, who had been practicing toxic. She yipped, tails wagging as Wraith explained the situation to her.

Bulbasaur glared, refusing to back down even as Scorch gave her a confused look. After a second, Scorch just shook her head and started barking to the pair of them, explaining how she harnessed her fire.

Ash watched them for a few minutes, taking care in keeping a track on Bulbasaur. The grass type watched Scorch unendingly, her back to no other pokemon, but she listened to everything Scorch said. Rhydon rumbled loud enough that Ash could hear, punching his failed attempt at a stone edge. The rock exploded to the ground with a shake that made Machoke grunt and look back at Leaf. She still hadn't moved since laying down.

Gale snapped his wings down, crest fully extended. He flew overhead like a blur and Ash paused, staring up, but heard a furious shriek. The fearow swooped lowly around, sagging slightly with exhaustion. He was close, so close, to breaking the sound barrier, but he hadn't managed to get there yet. Gale flew down to pick at the pile of berries Ash had left out for him before going at it again. Pidgeot could fly at twice the sound barrier, and Gale refused to be left behind.

Karma's ears perked, a single blade carving a divot into the earth. Ash trotted over, sticking his finger into the hole, and grinned. Solidly deep. She thrummed happily and tugged on his shirt with a burst of psychic energy, forcing him to fall flat on his face. He chucked a pebble at her. Karma created a narrow shield and it bounced fruitlessly off. She flicked her ears and threw a small barrage of rocks at him. Ash, laughing, fled the scene. It seemed she had gotten her energy back.

Frequent splashes came from the pond, but Tide only rose up once every hour or so to breathe, spending most of his time beneath. Ash didn't bother him. Though the sealeo was battle-hungry and never wanted to stop fighting, he knew when to hunker down and train. Aqua tail was a good move for his bulk and Ash was ready to use it in battle when he got it ready.

His eyes fluttered. They had traveled a lot today.

Ash distantly saw Rhydon gathering the others for bed before he fell asleep.

xXx

He woke in the night. His vision only showed black. "Rhydon?"

No response. Ash tried to stand, but Scorch was on his lap and he couldn't push her off. She was too warm, she was burning him, there was smoke.

A rumble split the air, and then Rhydon was by him, dull claws on his shoulder. "Bud?"

The ground type curled up behind him, his stone-keratin surprisingly not too uncomfortable. Ash relaxed slightly - he was cool to the touch, a bright contrast to Scorch's warmth. His eyes slid closed again.

xXx

 _Poliwhirl, the tadpole pokemon. Poliwhirl are capable of living in and out of water, on their well-developed legs. They sweat whenever out of water in order to stay moist. The pattern on their chest slowly spirals, and causes drowsiness even outside of battle._

 _This poliwhirl has the ability water absorb and knows the moves water gun, bubble, bubble beam, hypnosis, double slap, body slam, and haze._

Leaf whistled lowly. Poliwhirl gurgled happily, pounding her fist on her chest. She had calmed since Machoke thrashed her in battle again, showing her the power of the fighting type. Ash had little doubt Leaf would be getting that Celadon Water Stone as soon as possible.

She pursed her lips, already planning a training reign. Ash decided to throw in his question now. "Any chance Tide could battle Primeape?"

"Yeah, he needs the adrenaline." A grin split her face. Poliwhirl gave a soft, almost confused, gurgle. "Make sure he's prepared though, yeah? Primeape goes haywall against most enemies." When Ash nodded, she waved Primeape over, explaining it quickly. Ash went to find Tide.

The sealeo was in the pond, having finished with his meal before anyone else. He was only partially comfortable with bouncing his food on his nose around his teammates, and definitely not with Leaf's team here, so he ate it as fast as he could and went back into the pond for training.

Ash threw a few stones into the water, scaring a poliwag, before Tide came up. "Hey, bud. You ready for a battle?"

The ice type immediately pulled himself out, narrowing in on Primeape. The pig monkey screeched, pounding his fists together. "You're at a disadvantage, Tide," Ash called, getting out of the danger zone. "Fighting beats ice - show him that's wrong!"

By the furious bark, Tide was planning on just that.

xXx

The town of Tohjo Falls was large, sprawling, and full of people and stores and things to do. It was a tourist town, there was no doubt about it, but it was a quieter sense than Celadon. No overpowering scent, no hordes of faux cultural apparel, no towering skyscrapers with gleaming silver windows. Ash was thoroughly enjoying it.

Leaf outlined her plan for the day as they walked. The first half of a day would be for shopping, buying all the souvenirs and extra supplies they needed, and the second would be for seeing the sights of the town and everything else. Ash agreed, not that there were many other options. Leaf always had everything planned.

They dropped their stuff off at the Pokemon Center. Neither wanted to leave their bags unguarded at a reserve, and they would probably be spending most of their time at the town anyway.

Because it was so crowded, it was generally frowned upon to have pokemon out while walking the streets, at least all those that couldn't just stay on their trainer's shoulder. Ash kept touching his pokeballs as they walked out, preparing to explore. Something quickly distracted them.

"Ketchum, look at this!" Leaf pointed at a sign posted on the Pokemon Center's wall, neatly printed in large words and colorful pictures. An enormous waterfall took up most of it, the words arranged around it.

 _The Myths and Legends of the Tohjo Falls: Tour, by Reena Minaki._

Ash grinned, reading over the rest of the thing. Tohjo Falls was a place with lots of connections to many places, giving it a rich sense of place as well as many myths and legends surrounding it. He'd love to learn more.

"Day tour or night?"

Leaf paused, furrowing her eyebrows. "They'd both be nice," she said, rereading it. "Night tour is probably less crowded, and it gets a cruise around the Fall Lake? Damn, costs more. Can you afford it?"

"That's not too much, I can handle it." He patted his Trainer ID bracelet. "I have plenty right now. If you want to save for your Water Stone, I can pay for you too."

She shook her head. "Nah, I've got enough too. Come on, let's find this Reena."

The signs were very informative, and it took the pair of them less than an hour to find their way across the entire city and locate the tour guide building. It was a regular house converted to a business building, flower boxes covered in blue and white blooms. Reena seemed to be the owner, judging by the name _Minaki Tours_.

Who Ash assumed was Reena smiled as they entered. She had long red hair pinned back in a bun, blue eyes twinkling and casual scarlet clothes on. Waving them over to her counter, she leaned on her elbows and talked warmly. "Welcome to Minaki Tours. How can I help you?"

"We'd like two tickets for today's night tour, please," Ash said. Reena's eyes lit up.

"The tour starts at eight, right here in this building. The majority of it is about the Fall, while the day tour covers more about the town. That okay?" At their nods, she continued. "The boat ride should continue until about eleven, then I'll bring you back and have you here by midnight. We'll cover a lot about the different folk tales built up around the Fall, the stories of it, and even mysteries of the legendary pokemon rumored to be found here."

They both exchanged looks before offering their wrists. She scanned them quickly, punching a few buttons. She glanced over at her screen, reading it quickly.

"Ash Ketchum and Romane Chikara?"

The trainer winced. "Leaf, please."

Reena shrugged. "Will do." A grin crossed her lips. "See you at eight. Bring warm clothing - it gets cold at night. I'd also suggest heading down to José's Cafe - his leppa berry smoothies can get you through the night. You'll probably need that, too."

Ash and Leaf nodded. That sounded like a good thing to try.

Another customer came into the store and Reena perked up again, waving her over. They both immediately struck up a conversation about the tours. Ash took the opportunity to leave, Leaf following him.

She looked around, checking her watch. "Smoothie?"

José's Café had the sort of warm, cozy feeling that immediately made Ash think of his own restaurant in Pallet Town, the one filled with his mom's cooking and light perfume. The bell dinged cheerfully as they entered, showing them into a brightly lit café. The cashier on duty took their orders - two large leppa berry smoothies - and made them incredibly fast, pointing them toward an outdoor seating arrangement. They took a seat away from the other group of trainers outside.

The smoothies were delicious, and Ash was warring with himself about going back for seconds. Leaf finished hers with a sigh, setting the glass down. "That was good. Totally worth it. Want to come here tomorrow?"

"Definitely," Ash agreed, patting his stomach.

Leaf looked around, staring at each of souvenir shops on the block. "I'm going to start buying some supplies and stuff for my family, okay? I'll probably be a few hours."

Ash looked around as well. "I want to go to that store," he said, pointing. It was less flashy than most of the souvenir stores, filled with more native, handmade items. "That looks exactly like what I want."

Leaf nodded, looking at it herself. "Sounds good. You want to head there now?"

"Maybe not," he said, a flush building on his cheeks. "I want some more food from this place. I'll probably just have an early lunch here if the other food is just as good as their smoothies."

"No kidding." A grin spread over Leaf's face. "You drank that like a dying man. Alright. It might be an hour or two while I hit the other store, but we can shop there together."

Ash's blush deepened, but Leaf just laughed, stood, and walked her way out of the café's seating area. He waited a solid minute before heading back inside. Time to see what else he could get.

Although it took him a while to decide what he wanted, he ended up with another leppa berry smoothie in order to last the night, a muffin, and a wrap sandwich he liked the name of. Everything was just as delicious as he imagined.

Ash scrolled through his pokedex, poking in on any previous search he found interesting. Eating things slowly meant he didn't feel like he was loitering, and he bought a second muffin to give to Leaf because they were that good. He eyed the hour in the upper hand corner. She had been gone for a little over an hour, but he didn't know when she'd return. With a sigh, he returned to scrolling.

His finger paused.

 _Alola, alola kanto, alola surge, alola battle_.

Why had he searched that up? Alola was a relatively new region, one that had only just recently joined the Council of Leagues, though there were hints of a new region called Galar doing the same. He quickly found a picture of an alolan vulpix, staring up at him with cute blue eyes, but that wouldn't have been enough for him to search it. He already knew what they looked like. So why had he done that?

 _Alola surge_. Two keywords he hadn't thought would be in the same area. Alola was known for having several strange magnetic fields near their mountains, similar to Sinnoh, but he doubted he'd have looked that up without even having an electric type-

" _Yeah, Alola. They're the shittiest fighters of all the regions. Couldn't even handle their own war_."

Lt. Surge. After the Vermillion Raid. He had told Ash that Gladion was from there, that Professor Kukui was nice, and how he had spent two years fighting in a war in Alola. A war that, according to the Indigo documents, didn't exist.

Ash laid back against the chair, staring up. How could he have forgotten that?

Now that he was actively thinking about it, he could remember Surge's face, the almost anxious look the normally boisterous man had held. Bright eyes. Alola was supposed to be an entirely peaceful region, having ride pokemon and roaming packs of wild pokemon that helped each other out in battles.

But Surge had said there had been a war. Ash was confused. The memory flickered once in his brain before beginning to sink away. He grappled for it. Sluggishly, it rose back into clarity. Ash's heart beat a staccato beat in his chest.

"Ketchum!" He looked up. Leaf was waving at him furiously from across the plaza, multiple bags over her arms and a new pair of sunglasses over her eyes. "Come here!"

He stood up, downing the last of his second smoothie and grabbing the muffin. His thoughts slipped away. Slipping his pokedex onto his belt, he hopped the fence and trotted over to her. "You have to try this muffin, I swear, they are one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten."

Leaf laughed, shuffling some of her bags over in order to grab the napkin-wrapped treat. She placed it delicately in one of her smaller ones. "After we finish shopping, I'll eat it. Come on, let's go."

"Where are you going to put all your stuff?" Ash asked, walking beside her. "I mean, that's got to be fifteen pounds already."

"Sending it to Professor Oak," she said. "He'll give it to my parents, who'll distribute it to everyone. I can't wait to see what my mom thinks - I got her this little pot that's shaped like an oddish. She loves grass types." A grin split her face. "She hasn't been very subtle about what she's getting for me - an honest black belt. Ordered it from the Fighting Dojo in Saffron. Machoke is going to flip."

Ash laughed. "No kidding!"

The store was partially full, but there was plenty of room for them both to shop. Ash made his way through the different shelves, past engraved rocks, handmade embroidered flags of blue, white, and purple, and wooden carvings of common pokemon found in the area.

Ash stopped in front of a low shelf, one with only a few items on it. He picked one up - a stone carving of the Fall. The lake was colored a crisp, perfectly clear blue, and Ash almost thought he could see little painted pokemon beneath it. A deck extended over it, though the whole model was shrunken down in order to have the deck closer to the Fall. He touched the waterfall itself. There were individual groves for the streams of water, different blues making it up. The whole thing was nearly ten pounds.

It was exactly the kind of table centerpiece his mom would want. He grunted, picking it fully up, and heading to the cash register. Leaf gave him a thumbs up, holding a wooden carving of a poliwhirl and an engraved stone in the same hand. The Fall was rather expensive, but the cashier got it expertly wrapped and handed over in record time.

"Okay, only two more hours," Ash said, coming back to Leaf's side. "Then we'll stop shopping."

Five hours later, Ash collapsed in his Pokemon Center room.

His stone carving was back in Pallet Town, rather horribly wrapped but a present nonetheless. Leaf had sent it - he hadn't quite wanted to face Professor Oak yet. In his bag, there were a ton of berries for his team to eat, as well as a few minor things he had bought. Was it cliche to buy a Tohjo Falls shirt? Maybe.

Ash took a power nap, setting his alarm for seven. He woke up feeling a lot better, though Leaf still yawned when they joined back together. It felt weird to put back on long clothes in the heat of summer, but he knew that temperatures dropped near large bodies of water.

 _Minaki Tours_ was easier to find the second time around, and they got there with ten minutes to spare. Most of the buildings around it were still on, but the town of Tohjo Falls didn't have much of a nightlife, and things were closing up as it grew dark.

There were already a couple of people there, all dressed like they were. Reena chatted easily with them while they waited, and while the last person was five minutes late, they were able to set out fast.

Reena led them easily through the mostly empty streets, answering any questions they had about the surrounding buildings. A tourist, a woman in khaki everything, ran constant questions about what was going on around them, and Reena answered them all with the same ease as she did everything else. Ash kind of doubted she was ever surprised.

The light disappeared steadily from the sky, darkening to a rich black. As if on cue, street lamps turned themselves on, tinted as to not blind those in their houses. Orange light trickled over the street, just bright enough Ash could see where he was going but not much else. The tour group walked quietly, Reena leading them through alleys as shortcuts.

They reached the edge of the town, skipping the dock and heading to the left. Ash could see a dock somewhere off in that direction, seemingly private. There were only a few boats on it - it was probably regulated in order to protect the Fall Lake. While he hadn't heard of much vandalization, he guessed it had happened before.

The lake glittered darkly in the night. Stars appeared like burning pinpricks on the surface, dancing in their wavering position. He could have compared it to glass, but that wasn't right. It was pitch black, the mountains' reflection was swallowed by the dark. Ash was strangely peaceful, watching the lake grow closer. It looked cold.

Reena's boat was a wide cruiser, probably able to fit thirty people. With the ten in their tour party, there was plenty of space, and Ash and Leaf nabbed two seats near the front of the boat. Everyone kind of sectioned themselves off, content to sit by themselves. His hand fell to his waist. "Reena?"

She turned to him, curious. "Yeah, Ash?"

"What's your policy on pokemon?"

"Under three feet, under fifty pounds. If they destroy anything, you pay double what it costs, and I reserve the right to tell you to recall them at any time." She looked around quickly. "Normally it's one per person, but you can have two, since there are so few of you guys."

Ash felt along his pokeballs. Only two of his met the full requirements, though Wraith definitely weighed less. After a moment, he clicked the button on his left side.

Bulbasaur appeared with a growl, looking around. Almost immediately, she took the path of least concern and backed up against his legs, staring around at the other trainers. Ash didn't worry about her being aggressive - she avoided picking fights like a plague - but he did worry about her, well, worrying.

"Hey, Bulbasaur," he said. One ear flicked back. "We're about to go on a boat cruise near Tohjo Falls. Would you like to watch?"

She actually looked moderately interested, which Ash counted as a win. Stepping closer to the side of the boat, she extended her uninjured vine and wrapped it around the back of a chair, pulling herself up. Ash couldn't help a smile as her eyes went wide when she saw the shadowed water.

Scorch could stay in her pokeball, Ash would be taking her and the others to the lake later. For tonight, though, he just sat peacefully next to Bulbasaur as the grass type tried to absorb the view of the crystal waters beneath. She didn't remove her gaze from the lake despite Ash shuffling to a better position.

When he looked up, he could see things were a little less calm - two trainers had their mouths agape as they looked at the Kanto starter, eyes wide. Ash grinned a bit nervously.

The tourist woman had a meowth perched on her shoulder, and another had a bellsprout clinging to their arm. Ash turned his gaze away and stared over the water, making out the gleaming streak of white that was the Fall. Despite it being night, it ran just a strongly as it had in the day, the roar of its waters easily audible even from their distance.

"Come on out!" Reena called, clicking a pokeball. A starmie agreed, groaning in an almost cheerful manner. It immediately slipped into the water, pressing its back against the ship. Though he didn't become aware of it until a second after it happened, he noticed he couldn't hear the Fall anymore, and what wind had existed was gone.

Reena leaned over and tapped its tallest appendage. Immediately, Ash could see the water beginning to swirl with the power of surf, brushing against the boat. After another second, it slipped smoothly off of the dock, heading into the heart of the lake. Bulbasaur growled, tightening her hold on the chair. Falling in sounded like the opposite of good.

"I like to avoid using the engine, as it disturbs other pokemon," she explained. "Besides, Starmie can create a psychic shield around the boat, which blocks wind and such. Now please, enjoy yourself for a few minutes until we get into position to start the tour!"

Ash and Leaf chatted quietly, the boat moving smoothly beneath them. Others talked, but kept their voices low. The night was silent around them.

They passed beneath the dock quickly. It was taller from this angle, wide wooden boards extending overhead and enormous concrete pillars surging up through the water. Though Ash had been a little nervous, it came nowhere close to hitting the boat.

Before too long, Reena stood back up from her position and tapped Starmie again. The water immediately calmed, sending the boat gently drifting in the black. Starmie let out another groan and sunk mostly beneath the waves. Its gem sent a pale glow through the water as it maintained the psychic shields.

"Tohjo Falls was founded nearly a hundred years before the Indigo League. It held almost the same borders, the same land, the same mountains. What you see today is very similar to what you would have seen them." Reena's voice held an almost mysterious rasp it hadn't before, sending shiver sup Ash's spines. She knew how to tell stories. "This land stays as it wishes through the time, though one thing has been left different: it was not under the name it is now. Originally, it was known as Katikaze."

Ash's breath seemed terribly loud in the absence of wind, only the soft splash of waves against the side of the boat. He made eye contact with Leaf, who was just as fixated as he was. Even Bulbasaur had turned around to listen.

"Katikaze was mapped by a man named Qilin, whose last name is lost to time. He found the land, spent ten years exploring every crevice of the mountains, every tree of the forest, every rock of the river. When he finally reemerged into society, he spent every penny he had to buy the entire plot of land. When that was said and done, he named it Katikaze, made a shrine at the Fall, and built a house on the opposite side of Kanto. Qilin never revisited Katikaze, and he died without seeing it again." Waves created a soft rhythm in the atmosphere.

"Katikaze sat untouched for a hundred years until the Indigo League was created, when the land was investigated. Qilin had left a will, one the expressively said that his land was to be made free but not disturbed. And such, it was made into a reserve. The League wanted to protect what he had built, so they planned to move his shrine to a safe location. The stone could not be removed from the ground."

Though Reena didn't say anything, Starmie came back to the surface, but Ash could see where she had kicked the side of the boat. They began moving again, heading toward the Fall. The air grew colder, and Ash was thoroughly grateful for his long pants. They stopped far enough away from the Fall in order to avoid the powerful waves rippling outward, and Starmie's psychic shields protected them from the loud roar of it, but Ash swore he could still hear something. Reena stood again.

"The Qilin Shrine," Reena said, pointing. And there, on a narrow outcropping from the base of the mountain, was a collection of stones. He couldn't see much of anything from here, but there was definitely something - a statue, he guessed, standing over a small mountain of stones. Even from here, it looked big. Taller than him, at least.

"We aren't allowed closer in case we disturb it, but the League did their best and couldn't so much as move it." Reena let them absorb it a second longer. "Would you like to know what Katikaze means?" No one said anything, but she must have seen in on their faces. "Northern wind."

There was a pause. The trainer across from Ash gasped softly.

"Yes, the northern wind. There was one pokemon rumored to be born from the Fall, that every time pure rain fell from the skies and struck the Fall, a new beast was born. Though you may have heard of it, its name is something far less common - Suicune."

The name thrummed in his bones, even though Reena had been whispering. Ash frowned, placing on a hand on his chest. It sounded almost like when Wraith spoke to him, hearing it both through his ears and through his mind. By Leaf's reaction, she felt the same way. Bulbasaur growled softly. A smile played on Reena's lips.

"And now, to the other side of the lake. Despite being such a large body of water, there are surprisingly few large pokemon to match it. There is a reason for this, and that it the fearsome gyarados that is rumored to have been here since Qilin himself. If we travel this way, we can see a furrow in the mountain where it once practiced its hyper beam…"

Ash and Leaf got off the boat in silence, Bulbasaur quiet by his side. The walk back to the _Minaki Tours_ seemed faster than it had been to the lake, even with the rich darkness pressing down on them from all sides.

Both of them went to their respective rooms and passed out. Ash's dreams danced around him with blue and white and beauty.

xXx

They spent the next day just training and battling. Poliwhirl had a wicked bubble, and Ash kept having to limbo underneath wide, floating explosive spheres. Leaf apologized, but he found it rather fun. His team, not so much. Rhydon had nearly bathed the clearing in fire when they popped against his armor.

Both Tide and Gale had thrown themselves into their respective tasks. Tide was able to release sufficient amounts of water over his tail, but he was still struggling with successfully wrapping it. Gale was close, frustratingly close, and Ash was only giving him a week before starting him on another move. It had taken him a while to decide, but tailwind was his next decision. Gale wanted to be fast, wanted to match the pidgey line, and tailwind would help him with that.

For Tide, his tail was his strongest weapon. Iron tail would destroy a lot of his opponents, having more punch to it than aqua tail, and Ash was already thinking up a combo with the two of them.

His other pokemon were coming along fine, and Ash couldn't be prouder. He settled in that night with a smile on his face.

Scorch's heat abruptly left Ash in the middle of the night.

He woke slowly, a shiver running down his spine. Ash was so used to having the vulpix's warmth that he only had one blanket, tucked in the bottom of his bag. He yawned, opening his eyes, only to come face-to-face with Scorch.

She was dripping, pure water in a thin layer over her scarlet fur. Her eyes were confused. She made wet circles on Ash's chest with her paws.

He rose to a sitting position, and she inched backward to be in his lap. It wasn't raining, and Leaf's Poliwhirl was still in her pokeball. Scorch yipped again, shaking off the most of the water. Ash groaned and covered his face with his arm, but he was still thoroughly damp by the time she finished. She woofed an apology before a strange expression crossed her face.

Scorch leapt backward, sneezed, and lit on fire.

Flash fire created a warm glow over the clearing, reflecting off of Wraith's bloody eyes from where he was hidden in a shadow. Ash stood fully up, all traces of sleepiness gone. "Your internal flame is stable."

Scorch deactivated flash fire with a flick of her ears, tails waving gently. She released an ember from her longest tail, immediately seizing control of it. It floated peacefully in front of her nose, flickering warmly until she squashed it with her mental control. With barely a flash, it went out.

He knelt next to her, running his fingers through her rapidly-drying fur. "You know what that means?"

Scorch perked up, grey eyes going wide.

"You're going to evolve."

xXx

It was early morning, bright and tipped with dew. Scorch had barely been able to contain herself that night, and she had been the one to wake Ash up. She had been glowing all day, her excitement pushing her internal flame to new heights. Ash was a little concerned about that but he didn't tell her to stop. In all honesty, he didn't know whether he could. Scorch hadn't been this excited in a long time.

The pond was calm, the only ripples from the river. It was still cool from the morning, and the last traces of mist could be seen escaping into the sky. A poliwag was swimming playfully on the surface, and a small flock of pidgey flew overhead.

Scorch ran around the clearing, chasing away pokemon from the center of the clearing. Her tails flashed, releasing constant heat, enough to make Ash start to sweat. Because she didn't exactly have access to a volcano or desert, and her prime habitat wasn't as easy as water types, she had to try and recreate it as best she could. Tide was distinctly uncomfortable in the heat, but he stayed silent. It was Scorch's time.

Rhydon rumbled, standing to attention. Scorch barked until he stood into a more perfect position, leaning slightly forward with his tail stretched out for a counterbalance.

Ash didn't know how Scorch's internal flame had been affected by the battle against Charizard, but he didn't want to risk it. The most likely outcome was that her flame had been expanded by being forced to absorb so much heat, and there was the slightest chance that the Fire Stone wouldn't be enough. So he was going to have Rhydon use flamethrower on her while she used the Fire Stone so that the extra heat might be what was needed to propel her into evolution.

The rest of his pokemon were spread out in a half circle, positioned behind him. Karma had her shine out, ready to form a shield if needed, and her eyes were softly glowing. Leaf and her pokemon weren't here. While she wanted to see the vulpix's evolution, she understood that it was best to have an evolution occur surrounded by the pokemon's team. She had made Ash promise to give her a complete script.

When Scorch seemed satisfied with the state of the clearing, she turned back to him and barked. He nodded and pulled out the Fire Stone.

It burned the palm of his hand, hot enough he had to switch it between hands. But he held it up to the air, letting both Scorch and the rest of his team see it. Silence spread over the clearing.

Ash looked around and saw pokemon. The flock of the pidgey line had settled on the branches, staring into the clearing. Water pokemon poked their eyes above the lake, though they sunk below when he looked at them. There was a soft whinny and he looked in shock as a herd of ponyta appeared from the route, having come from behind the mountain. They watched from a distance, manes popping sluggishly. No rapidash were among them and for that Ash was grateful, but it was still incredible to see the sway a Fire Stone held over fire pokemon.

Scorch growled at them, ears flat, and the ponyta acknowledged her power and moved backward. She stopped once they were at a respectable distance, giving a warning glance to the other pokemon.

He brought the Fire Stone down. The magma inside was perfectly frozen in a state of being active, unable to escape or die by the mystic powers of Entei and its volcanoes, though its heat easily trickled outward. Ash turned to Scorch and offered it

Scorch looked up at him with wide grey eyes, gratitude and joy filling her gaze, and yipped softly. Her gaze slid down to the Fire Stone. Red reflected back in her eyes.

In a flash, she leapt forward, grabbed the Fire Stone, and darted backward. Her fur flared brighter. In a strange, smooth motion, she tossed her head back and bit down on the Fire Stone. The glass cracked, shattered, and the lava spilled down her throat.

Nothing happened for a few seconds. Scorch's eyes began to glow, two slits of coal. Ash opened his mouth to say something when she splayed her tails out, pointed their tips at the ground, and released a torrent of flames.

It immediately roared into the air, seeming to reach the sky in an instant. But it didn't escape - it stayed tightly contained in a roaring spiral of fire, only ten feet wide. Rhydon stepped forward, and Karma created a reinforced barrier, molded around his armor. He rumbled his thanks before opening his maw and using flamethrower, his own fire spilling out to join in the funnel. The flames crackled fiercely, roaring out. Though Ash knew it was loud, it felt strangely silent all the same. The clearing was still beside Scorch.

Ash heard an exuberant bark before the fire flared to nearly triple the height. He sprang backward, Karma creating a thick barrier almost instantly in front of him. The flames started red, then tendrils of blue crept outward from the center, staining the whole thing. Karma reinforced her shield as the heat increased. The fire turned white at the tips. Rhydon kept pumping his own flames into the mass before standing back - whatever was going on in there, it was pretty obvious it was working. Scorch had struggled to harness blue flames before, but nothing to this level, and definitely not white.

A glow surfaced from deep in the vortex, somehow bright enough to be visible. He had to avert his eyes. From the corner of his vision, he could see the form of his friend, tails splayed and head thrown back. It wavered like a mirage in the desert.

The energy being released from his friend redoubled. Pressure built in his mind, eerily similar to Karma and Wraith. The sun seemed to burn, redoubling its strength. Ash could barely stand to look at Scorch, and now overhead was the same way - it was like she was using sunny day. Harsh sunlight roared over the clearing.

With a bang, the light inside the vortex shut off. Ash jerked, eyes going wide behind Karma's protection. All he could see now was the fire. The only sound was the roar of flames, still spiraling in the air. He frowned. Gale or Wraith hadn't taken nearly this long-

A vulpix leapt out of the fire.

Ash blinked.

It was the same size as Scorch, bright red with strange, reflective eyes. It stared up at him, opening its mouth, but nothing came out. It paused, as if confused, before looking up at him again. Its six tails wagged happily. Ash was just as confused.

Had the Fire Stone not worked? Scorch's internal flame might not have been completely stable, and had managed to absorb the Fire Stone, only forcing more energy into Scorch for her to convert while not actually evolving her. But then why was the vortex still active?

The vulpix's tails fell off.

Ash just about screamed.

It looked back, confused, before the column of fire extended a wide, writhing tendril, and gently tapped the vulpix. Fire flowed into the vulpine, and suddenly it had new tails, tipped in burning white flames. It silently yipped again, beginning to prance about.

The column of fire retreated into itself. It spun faster and faster, converging in on a single point not much larger than Ash himself. As it shrunk, it turned fully white, bright enough Ash could barely look. The vulpix perked its ears up, staring at the fire. Part of its ears began to flicker like flames before abruptly switching back to fur.

Without a sound, the fire retreated and revealed what was inside.

Beautiful golden-white fur rippled in the heat of the air, smoothed back over powerful muscles. What had once been narrow curls on her forehead was now a crest, flowing backward. Nine tails curled upward, each longer than she was tall, tipped it a streak of pure gold so bright it shone. She stared at him with glowing crimson eyes, gaze cool. Ash was filled with awe.

Scorch stood in front of him. She slowly unfurled her tails, each one extending out to form a waterfall behind her. Her eyes flashed briefly and the vulpix from before exploded into a plume of flames. It didn't go out, trembling in midair. With an almost imperceptible twitch of her ear, the fire disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Ash held his breath as Scorch started forward. She was slightly below eye level - taller than the average ninetales, the pokedex-filled part of his mind supplied - but she stared at him pridefully nevertheless. Her ears perked, though she never stopped looking at him.

He had heard of pokemon who were caught up in the evolution buzz of power, so desperate to test their newfound strength that they attacked anything and everything in their path. Scorch seemed much calmer than that, but there was a dangerous note in her movement, the flick of her longest tail and tilt of her muzzle.

Ash stared at her, fully raising himself up. This was still Scorch, the pokemon who got jealous of Ash's blankets and liked to jump on Rhydon's shoulders. He nodded his head slowly.

Scorch, after a moment of pause, nodded back.

He immediately broke out into a grin. Scorch's ears perked and she stepped forward the rest of the way, lowering her head somewhat. Ash raised his hand and pet her behind the ears. She purred happily, inclining her neck further to give him better access. Her fur was richly warm, thin enough he could scratch at her more sensitive skin. She was releasing heat like an honest fire, each of her tails having the air waver above them.

"You're amazing," Ash said, voice full of awe.

The ninetales purred.

xXx

 **And here's chapter ten. I hope this helps clear up a lot of the dislike for Ash's rashness last chapter - eventually, I will be rewriting that chapter, but not anytime soon. But think of it this way: Ash took down a Team Rocket base that the League hadn't managed to do so yet and didn't die. So now they can relax, send Professor Oak in to teach him how to do it right, and tell the public that it was taken down. Is that necessarily a good thing? No. But it's a realistic response from a League that just had one of its top members killed.**

 **Second, I found a comparison for Wraith's battle style - if anyone has seen Matrix: Reloaded, he fights a bit like the Twins. Just a fun bit of information.**

 **I have mostly picked out the OCs I need, but I won't be making the final decision until I release the next chapter. Thank you to everyone who has submitted so far.**

 **Those who reviewed last time were very helpful, and I'm making a point to now respond to every review and PM I get. Thank you!**


	11. Burnt Remains

Ash whistled, wiping his forehead with the back of his sleeve. Scorch turned to him, pride sparking in her eyes, and delicately rearranged her tails. The pile of magma that had once been rock popped sluggishly.

"You've gotten stronger," he said, unable to help the grin spreading over his face. "A lot stronger. How difficult was that?"

Scorch flicked both of her ears up, fixing him with her scarlet gaze. "Not too bad?" He guessed.

She had been less vocal since evolving, as well as less openly affectionate. Ash had been hurt at first - he missed having Scorch curl up in his lap as he brushed her, or trying to steal his blankets so she could lay on his chest, or attempting to pounce on his legs to get his attention - but he soon realized that she was expressing her affection in different ways. Breaths of hot air, entertaining him quietly with her illusions, keeping the smoke away from him in their nightly fires. Evolution always changed pokemon, even more so in evolutionary items evolutions, and she was no different.

"Are you still struggling with your range?" He asked, reaching out to scratch behind her ears. She leaned into the touch but glared at him - neither of them had expected her range to decrease when she evolved, but she didn't like to be reminded of it. He sighed, putting his other hand to work on her neck. "I'm not doubting you. It'll just take some time to get used to." She did an eerily close impression of rolling her eyes. He still didn't know why they had picked that up from him.

"How's your iodine store?"

Scorch paused, staring into space. At the flick of one of her tails, he stepped back. She bared her fangs, chest swelling, and spat out a mass of purple-black onto the misshapen stone. It hissed, beginning to eat through the grey, but it was a fair bit smaller than normal.

Ash scratched the back of his neck. "You think it was burnt up in your evolution?"

Scorch nodded, eyes narrowed at the stench of the toxic. The move prevented her from being poisoned as it left her mouth, but that didn't mean it was entirely pleasant to use. Only poison types could use poison moves - especially such powerful ones as toxic - without any discomfort.

"I'll buy you some magikarp treats before the gym battle. But for now, I think I'm going to teach you fire spin."

She tilted her head, fire burning in her eyes. Ash waited, but she didn't react other than that. "It's more difficult for you to learn now, as vulpix have thinner fyrveins that propel the fire in the right direction, but you have enough control it should come along. "

Scorch nodded her head at that, settling down on her back paws. She was very regal now, her mane flaring behind her with every slight breeze, but there was still the excitement of battle and victory burning in her gaze, the same she had had ever since he captured her. He grinned back, and she bared her fangs in reply. "Come on now. Let's go work with Wraith - he could use the help with fire punch."

She purred, deep in her throat, and padded after him. He put a hand on her back, feeling the heat slipping out like a living thing, coiling around his fingers. A fire type, in the truest sense of the words.

xXx

"You know, I think I have a thing for red eyes," Ash said. Rhydon rumbled at him. "You, Wraith, Bulbasaur, and now Scorch? It won't stop. And then Karma, Gale, and Tide all have black. Do you think I'm color-coordinating?"

Leaf raised an eyebrow. From behind him, he could hear Bulbasaur growl something under her breath. He grinned, looking up at his starter. Rhydon rumbled again, spinning his drill. "No cheek. You've had red eyes for your entire life - Scorch had to earn them. Maybe it has something to do with flamethrower-"

Ash jerked suddenly, a violent shiver arcing over his body. One of Wraith's spines had hit the back of his legs, cutting the skin and sending an immediate chill throughout him.

The haunter turned around, his stain hissing an apology, but Ash brushed it off. The cold disappeared after a second and it was barely bleeding. Wraith turned back to what he had been doing, spines rustling softly against each other. Ash stepped around Rhydon to be able to see, curious.

Bulbasaur growled, directing Wraith. The ghost wrapped his hands around her midsection, careful to keep his hooked claws away from her blue-green skin. After a moment, he lifted her into the air, following her carefully. She growled thanks and he hissed back, bobbing slightly as he matched her height.

She went around twenty feet up, no fear in her eyes, and growled for him to stop. When she got to her peak, she was able to reach forward and nose at a bluish berry hanging from the tree, nose slits flaring. Wraith rose up to inspect it as well, bloody eyes tilted to the side.

Ash stood underneath them, cranking his neck up to see. Leaf and Machoke were a little ways away, watching curiously. He adjusted his cap, using the shadow from the bill to see. Even with that, it took him a moment to recognize the berry.

"That's a rawst berry," he called up. Bulbasaur growled a question. "You'd probably like it - they help with burns, and they're decently bitter."

Bulbasaur sniffed at it for a few more seconds before extending her uninjured vine. She plucked it easily from the tree and snarled at Wraith. He carefully lowered her back down before retracting his claws. She bit it half, swallowing it whole, and quickly snapped down the second part. Her crimson eyes lit up.

"Good, huh?" Ash asked, bending down to be more on her level. She muttered something, directing her gaze up to the tree. "I can buy you some more in Cinnabar, if you want."

After a moment, Bulbasaur turned back to him and nodded, churring low in her throat. He grinned and stood back up, nodding at Wraith. The haunter hissed back, looking pleased with himself. He and Bulbasaur were getting along splendidly.

Leaf had a smile as he walked back over to the path, watching Wraith slip back into his shadow to escape the pressing sun. "You're an absolute softie, Ketchum," she said, humor in her tone. "How long until you carry her?"

"I wouldn't!" Ash protested. "She doesn't want to be."

Leaf couldn't hide her laughter fast enough.

xXx

The town edging Victory Road was refreshing small, numerous flowers lining every wall and the windows shuttered with jewel tones. Leaf cheerfully pointed out the numerous exotic pokemon that had no doubt been caught on Victory Road itself. Ash groaned through each description, dragging himself through the streets. Rhydon looked far too smug, letting Ash lean against his side as they walked. He had stayed up late working with Karma on psycho cut and was thoroughly regretting it.

It took them a decent enough while to reach the Pokemon Center, but by then, the buzz of the city and people had woken Ash up enough he was functional, even though he desperately needed caffeine. He shoved his way through the glass doors, pausing only to recall Rhydon and let Leaf through, and then headed towards the videophones.

Traveling with Leaf had brought back his desire to meet with Gary, even if it was just to talk. He resolved himself to ask Professor Oak again. Even if Gary was busy, he could still call him, just to check up on how both of their journeys were going.

Professor Oak clicked to life after only a few minutes. A smile spread over his face as he saw Ash, who waved at him. "Hello, Ash."

"Hi, Professor Oak. Just wanted to check in."

The man laughed, brushing his shock of white hair back. "Of course, my boy. How was Tohjo Falls? Did Leaf catch her poliwhirl?"

"With haze, too. She trained it so much it'll be on Machoke's level soon enough." His grin spread further. Machoke would probably not take that too kindly. He enjoyed being Leaf's most powerful pokemon. "My training went fine, too. Scorch evolved! She's been acting cocky, but I'm getting through to her."

"What about my lessons?" The cheerful attitude, though still there, gained a darker edge.

Ash glanced away for a second but nodded. "Yeah. I've taught my pokemon it." His gaze flicked down. They weren't easy lessons to teach. Incapacitation was a touchy topic for all trainers, as it was a very possible reality of battling. Death was even less spoken about. There were laws, he knew, written in some part of the Indigo League Code, but he hadn't read them before. Professor Oak had shown him a very different side of battling, and teaching his pokemon the same lessons he had been shown - how to hurt, how to maim, how to kill - had been a long, quiet night.

"That's good, Ash," he said, voice soft. Professor Oak looked away, distracted temporarily. Ash took the moment to suck in a breath, preparing himself, before striking. He was getting an answer to this.

"Where's Gary?"

Professor Oak jerked, gaze swiveling back to him. "Hm?"

"Gary. You said he was doing something for you, but that he'd be back on the road soon. Can I see him?"

The man let out a breath, and Ash grew more and more nervous. Professor Oak loved his grandson with a passion that shook worlds and for him to act this way was, well, worrying. He tapped his fingers along his thigh.

"He's… in Fuschia City right now. He's not traveling yet, but should in a week or two." The man's voice was tight.

Ash waited a second. "Professor, what's wrong?"

He didn't answer. "You're welcome to visit him. I'm sure Alakazam would be willing to teleport you over to save some time."

Ash waited, but the man didn't clarify. There was something raw in his tone, guilty. "That'd be great, Professor." He didn't say anymore. He needed to know what happened to Gary. They exchanged pleasantries for a few more moments before Ash clicked out of the call, immediately standing up and scanning the room. He didn't have long before Alakazam would be over.

Leaf was standing in the corner, flicking idly through another fighting type training book. Ash had been more than surprised when he realized she had nearly half a dozen in her bag, though a little less so when he found she sometimes gave it to Machoke to carry when it got too much. That made sense. The thing looked ridiculously heavy.

She glanced up when he walked over to her, eyebrow raised. "Done so soon, Ketchum? Thought you'd spend at least half an hour catching up."

He grinned a bit nervously and scratched the back of his neck. Leaf instantly narrowed in on the perceived weakness. "Oh."

"What?"

"You're leaving again, aren't you?"

Ash blinked. "I- how did you guess?"

"You're an open book, at least to me." She gestured roughly at his face. "You've got the same expression you did last time."

"Ah." He flushed. "Well, yeah, I am. I'm going to Fuschia to see Gary, catch up a bit and see what's up with him. Professor Oak was acting shifty when I talked to him, so I don't know what I'll find. After that, I'm going to Cinnabar for the Tournament. You?"

Leaf sighed, checking the page number and closing her book. "I can't say I didn't expect it. I'm off to Johto in two weeks, to catch the houndour and heracross, so I'm hanging out here to train up Poliwhirl and the others until it's my ticket's time. Depending on how long it takes me to catch them, I'll either go for the next badge or train some more after Johto. I gave myself a lot of wiggle room for those two."

"That's Leaf," he teased. "Always have a plan." There was a pause. "Maybe we could meet up again, sometimes before the Conference?"

She grinned. "I'd like that. Machoke won't ever say it, but he likes Rhydon. Good company."

They shared another few seconds before she reached out and punched his shoulder. "Get going, Ketchum. I think I saw Alakazam outside."

"I'll see you later, Leaf," he called back, trotting away to avoid upsetting the psychic type. He waved a hand, watched her match it, and disappeared through the glass doors.

Alakazam was waiting for him outside, shines held loosely by her side. Ash swallowed and looked away from her dull black eyes, but nodded in her direction. She twitched one ear in something he couldn't decipher and placed her paw on his shoulder. In an instant, he was out.

xXx

"He's in here," Nurse Joy said softly. She gestured to the door. It was a normal wooden door, the small window in the center darkened by tint. He didn't see anything special. Ash's eyes traced upward until they landed on a small sign near the top. _Recovery Ward_.

Oh.

Ash, feeling a tightness build in his chest, pushed on the door. It gave way easily, letting cool air roll over his body from the inside. There was a steady hum of monitors even before he entered.

Gary looked frighteningly small in the bed. Only his neck and above was visible, the rest tucked away beneath the sterile white sheets, but his neck was wrapped in bandages so thick Ash wondered how he could breathe. His left eye was a mass of bruises.

They looked at each other, obvious shock on both their faces. Gary made a half-hearted effort to hide his neck before stopping, pulling himself up onto his elbows. "Ash?"

"Gary." Ash struggled to find the correct words.

His friend had no such qualms. "Why are- how did you find me?"

"Professor Oak. I asked about you, and he only told me today where you were. He didn't say anything, and I was worried." _Rightfully so_ , he wanted to add, but didn't. The words stuck in his throat. "What happened?"

Gary sighed, closing his eyes. "One of Grandpa's missions. It was supposed to be easy - go to the grand opening of this canyon, say some words, and come out with a fossil to show the public. Thing is, they wanted _me_ to find a fossil, make it realistic. So they sent me in there to find something."

A slight grin crossed his face. "I found this spiral piece from an omanyte about an hour in, but that wasn't good enough. I'm Gary Oak - I was walking out of there with a damn kabutops skull or nothing. So I kept looking."

"Turns out I wasn't the only thing looking down there. Somehow, a cavern was underground that had been preserved since forever. It was connected to a few geothermal tunnels and hot springs, so it had water and air, or whatever. Lots of bones in there, but much fresher. Some looked only a few years old. That was when it attacked."

"Lots of fossil pokemon were in that cavern, but they had the luck to be trapped with an aerodactyl. It was smart. It didn't pick them all off at once, going basically into hibernation and eating one every year or so to allow them to procreate. By the time I found it, it had been without food for a while. It… wasn't pleasant." Gary took a beat to breathe, glancing away with his blackened eye.

After a moment, he continued. "Wartortle evolved and got me out of there. It took all I had to bring the cavern down, and by that time my pokemon were beat to hell. We barely made it."

"Why did you have to do it?" Ash couldn't pull his mind away from the thought. He knew that Gary had privileges as Professor Oak's grandson - a squirtle starter was a prime example of that - but he didn't expect him to have to _do_ much of anything besides stand in front of a crowd and wave. He was only in his first year as a trainer. "Why not anyone else?"

"It had to be me," Gary said, voice hoarse. It sounded like he wanted to shout but didn't. "I can't turn down anything because I'm an Oak. If I did, I'd make Grandpa look bad, or bring down his reputation, and he's spent far too long working with Indigo and places beyond for me to reject anything. I can't. So whenever the League calls me up, I have to go."

It seemed to hit him that he was complaining, and he struggled to double back. "It's not bad, I swear. Most of the time I just have to make a speech and announce something. I get a lot of perks for it, too."

There was a pause. Ash, never having been known for his tact, jumped in. "It's not worth it, is it?"

"No." Gary seemed to deflate, but his eyes burned. "All of my pokemon have to be able to take a fucking hit from an ancient fossilized predator because of what I'm expected to put them through. That's why I couldn't catch the drowzee I came across, because it couldn't survive attacks and that's all they need my team to do. I can't be weak."

"The League expects an ACE trainer from a ten-year-old and I can't say no because that's how I got Blastoise, by being born under this stupid name and getting strong too fast. If I had stayed where other trainers did, planning on competing in the Conference after two years, they might have left me alone." He let out a wane chuckle. "But that's not me, is it? I couldn't turn down a challenge if it kills me."

His gaze snapped to Ash. "You can afford to," he said. "You've trained your team to be smart, to take hits in order to hit back, or to focus more on speed than power. I know your fearow has been working on getting faster - the only speed that Pidgeot has gotten is from his evolution. I just have to work on his defense."

"What else have they made you do?"

Gary's face fell again, if slightly. "Tournaments," he offered. "Against older trainers. Something about showing the world the Kanto prodigies. I'm not too upset at that one. It won me Eevee." A smile touched his lips. "She's great."

Ash pounced on the slight lightening of the mood. "What about the rest of your team? How are they doing?"

There was a snort, and Gary grinned. "Magnemite found another magnemite on Route 10, and I don't think it'll be too long until they fuse together. It's been chaos having two of them, though. Pidgeot evolved somewhere near Lavender, and Kangaskhan finally finished the second level of storm break. That one took a while. Graveler evolved, finally, and Growlithe is doing well. She's as bouncy as could be, I swear. Barely stops darting around even in battles. I'm hoping evolution will calm her down." There was a pause as he thought over his team. "You?"

"Rhydon evolved," Ash said with a grin. "Same for my ninetales, and my kadabra is pretty close. I caught a sealeo near Vermillion, as well as a bulbasaur." His thoughts twisted. This was Gary - he was more involved with the Indigo League than anyone Ash's age. "I got her after I attacked the Jobane Storage Base."

Gary jerked. "Ash!"

Damn. "I thought you knew about that-"

"Here I am, being forced to do stupid things, and you're out there doing them of your own accord!" Gary groaned, thumping his head back against his pillows. After a moment, he looked back up. "How bad was it?"

Ash put his hands over his belt. "Bad. I won't deny that. But I helped capture Gideon, as well as a few of Viper's pokemon. Will had just been killed. I had to do something." The argument cut itself off as Gary propped himself back up and looked at him, really looked at him, eyes bright even past the bruising. Ash hid his frown and tried to project as much confidence as he could. If anyone knew anything, it would be Gary.

"Giovanni's been on the hunt for whoever could have spilled the information about where Will was," he said finally. His voice dropped on the Elite Four's name. "The official release didn't say it, but Will was going undercover on that mission, which is why he had so few pokemon on him. It was supposed to be a hit and run - check out the scene, get some information, and then leave - but he was caught off guard. No one should have known where he was. The information was strictly classified."

Gary sucked in a deep breath and Ash mirrored him. They met eyes, brown against black. "We've got a suspect. Charles Goodshow."

Ash didn't know what to say. "Have you done anything about it?"

"Giovanni is watching him, and there are guards around his house. His calls are tapped. It's just - it's Mr. Goodshow, you know? He's been here for longer than Lance. But he came to power right after the first Team Rocket uprising, and he's the one who commands the Elite Four when Lance is busy elsewhere. There's no chance he wouldn't know where Will was. It lines up." Gary did a mockery of a shrug, shoulders hidden beneath the white sheets. "But who knows, right? Lance'll find it out. He always does."

They sat in silence for a while. "Our lives are very different now, aren't they?" Ash said, tilting his head back. "Before, my biggest problem was how you were able to climb higher in the trees than me."

"And I was always jealous that Ms. Ketchum would make you mago poffins," Gary added, a sigh escaping his lips. "Damn, those were delicious."

"And you always tried to swim with the horsea in the pond, at least until the seadra came to chase you out."

Gary raised an eyebrow. "And you would always try and sneak up on that pidgey flock, only to get knocked ass over teakettle by their gusts."

"It's better than you trying to ride that tauros!"

"Oh, you're one to talk, Mr. I tried to sneak away to Viridian to buy a pokeball-"

"Like you didn't try and take one of Professor Oak's experimental ones-"

"At least I didn't steal a rattata egg!" Both shouted at the same time.

They stared at each other. "We did that together, didn't we?" Ash said, an embarrassed expression settling on his face.

"And then got chased all the way back to the lab by a pair of angry raticate," Gary agreed.

After a long while, Gary finally broke the silence.

"Did you seriously get a bulbasaur?"

Ash's face split back into a grin. "Oh, somebody jealous?"

xXx

The volcano sat quietly on the island. It was strange, in a way. It was easily the tallest thing he had ever seen, the top securely hidden beneath a blanket of clouds, but it was fitting for the land it was on. The backdrop of the ocean only made the red-grey of the volcano stand out more, and the town of Cinnabar Island seemed tiny next to it. He had done a bit of research, and knew that the island was full of the aptly-named magma larch, which were stunted, hardy trees that could regrow from their stump even in the case of an eruption. While preservation actions had been taken to introduce more trees to the area to supply cover and food for pokemon, the magma larch ran rampant. It was a good thing, too - the majority of the Cinnabar Island pokemon thrived on the larch, eating the spindly needles for nutrients to boost their flames. Packs of growlithe were observed to have an elaborate system in play, eating needles from the trees in crisscrossing sections around the island to let them grow back.

Though the volcano took up most of the available land, the city had made good use of what was left. It was spread across the base, stretching from the coastline to the beginning of the slope upward. There was plenty of wildland left, but the city covered a good quarter of what was available. It drifted steadily closer, and Ash pulled his bag tighter around his shoulders. Time to get off.

He stepped onto the dock with a grunt, taking a moment to adjust to the lack of swaying beneath his feet. It had only been a three-day trip, an absolutely silent one at that, but it had been boringly long. None of the sailors had been nearly as friendly as Captain Fergus and most of the other travelers just shut themselves in their room, so Ash had matched them. His team had appreciated the break, even with the room being incredibly cramped, and slept for most of it. He still took Bulbasaur out every day to absorb sunlight, though.

The other passengers filed off next to him, but he took a moment to hang back and make a plan before charging in. The city was bulky but streamlined at the same time, chock-full of everything but organized in a way that it all worked. Ash was impressed. He couldn't imagine the planning that had to go into this thing.

Cinnabar Island was a relatively new city, at least in the sense it had been a small, contained town before. Only recently had it started gaining the reputation as a tourist destination it had now, and it had blown up ever since. Even with its rapid growth, the city had swelled to accommodate.

It was worse than Celadon, in the sheer numbers sense, but Ash was less scared now. He had grown, if only somewhat, and he didn't feel quite like a rattata facing a dragonite anymore. Maybe a raticate.

The tourists were loud and gaudy, but they didn't wear fake kimonos, and Cinnabar Island was built to accommodate them. Streets were increased width, trash cans ran frequent, and the Pokemon Center had glaring signs leading to its location to allow the trainers to escape the crowds. He followed it quickly, only to pull to a stop outside the building. Inside, he could see a line of nearly two dozen people long just in front of Nurse Joy's desk. Judging by the woman's wore expression, it had been going on for a while now.

He sighed and stepped away, heading for the shopping district of the town. He'd get his pokemon checked up on tonight, and hopefully, most everyone would have disappeared by then. Ash hated crowds.

xXx

"Magikarp treats, magikarp treats," Ash muttered, walking through the aisles. He sidestepped another group - gaggle? pod? - of tourists and continued scanning the shelves. Another row of various shampoos. He could have sworn he was in the food area. Where were the treats?

He had been uncomfortable at first, buying these. At least in pokemon food it didn't outright say it was magikarp or tauros, at least beside whether it was the vegetarian, omnivore, or carnivore mix. But it hadn't taken him long to adjust.

Out of his team, only two were vegetarians, Rhydon and Bulbasaur. Omnivorous food was less expensive and, since he got it in bulk, he even got a discount. He was grateful that Bulbasaur ate very little, since Tide and Rhydon were already eating him out of house and home. Having seven pokemon on him was both a blessing and an annoyance.

Eventually, he found the small section they were found in. They were expensive, at least compared to regular food, but by being just dried magikarp, they had the highest content level of iodine for Scorch. Swiping his Trainer ID under the scanner, he grabbed the treats and bag of rawst berries and left.

Though there weren't routes on Cinnabar, there were paths that tracked across the entire island. He fought for two hours to get through the crowds and find the western edge of the city, increasing the priority of training Karma to teleport with him on his to-do list. That had only been a quarter of the city as well, and it had taken him past noon to get to the woods.

But once he was free of the gleaming silver and flashing lights, it was like he was back on the mainland again. The magma larch provided interesting scenery, gnarled pockets of deep grey poking up like bizarre fingers through the loamy soil. Honedge grass grew in large clumps along the side of the route, and numerous wildflowers bloomed in a waterfall of colors in the distance. Bulbasaur had eaten one, decided she didn't like it, and then promptly went and ate one of a different color. That one wasn't good, either.

The clearings were larger than normal, mainly because of the greater distance between trees. This one didn't have a water feature for Tide, so he stopped trying to perfect aqua tail and jumped whole-heartedly into iron tail. After doing some basic stretches to work out the knots that came from spending three days sleeping in various positions in a cramped cabin, each went off for training. Bulbasaur curled up in one corner with her rawst berries, inspecting each for ripeness and eating them in order. Rhydon stomped off to perfect stone edge, Karma floated in her corner to work on strengthening her psycho cuts, Wraith forced himself into the sun to get the heat needed for fire punch, and Gale tried to unlock tailwind over and over again. Scorch, however, went with him.

"Scorch, I swear, if you don't work for these, I'm never buying them again," he threatened, holding the offending object forward. Scorch fixed it with her burning gaze and twitched her ears. The small chunk of dried meat didn't look very frightening.

Ash groaned good-naturedly. "I have read the package, you lazy fox. 'These treats are for motivation training. With their excellent taste, trainers will be able to convince their pokemon to do any sort of training activity.' You're not doing anything of that."

Scorch sat down, curling her tails around to her front. She stared directly at him as she pulled up one of her front paws and began licking it, pausing every few moments to breathe a tongue of fire over it to burn away any dirt or excess fur.

Alright. Another power play. The three days on the ship had made her more than irritated, and she was taking it out on the easiest target. He knew the answer to this.

Ash turned his attention to the sky and whistled as sharply as he could. One of Scorch's ears snapped in his direction.

The fearow shrieked in answer, pulling out of tailwind to land with a _thud_ next to Ash, and stretched his ten-foot wingspan before tucking them at his side. Gale had taken to the move surprising well - Ash guessed it was because he already knew agility, though he was far from perfecting it - and was experimenting with using to speed to pick items up while flying. He had done it once before, in the Sisters' gym with their seadra, but now he was much larger.

Ash, making sure Scorch could both see and hear him, held up the treat again. "Hullo, Gale. Now tell me. Would you be willing to do a few training activities to earn some of these scrumptious, delicious, wonderful treats?"

He could see the cogs in Gale's mind turn. The great avian twisted his head to land one black eye on Scorch before turning back to Ash. With an almost excited squawk, he bobbed his head, flaring his crest.

Ash grinned. "Now that is the appropriate response. Just some basic exercises, how about that?" Gale turned his gaze fully toward Scorch, made a smug shriek, and nodded again. Ash tossed him one for his excellent part in this. The fearow snapped it up, beak shining.

Scorch did an admirable attempt at gaping. The next instant, she leaped to her paws, tails fully extending to form a golden backdrop. She howled, fire bursting from the ends of her tails and, interestingly, from the insides of her ears.

It was intimidating, but Ash just grinned at her insulted expression. He dug another treat out from the bag, holding it up. "Oh? You're willing to do such _plebeian_ , boring exercises like running laps instead of just using your fire to solve any problems-"

Scorch disappeared from view. He distantly felt a blast of heat

Ash cupped his hands around his mouth and aimed himself where he had last seen her. "No quick attack!" He heard an answering howl, and she became partially visible again, a streak of liquid gold blitzing through the trees.

She had gotten faster since evolving. A lot faster.

"Thanks, bud," Ash said, tossing another treat to Gale. The fearow snapped it out of the air, beak clacking against itself. His grin grew wider. "Can you believe you were even worse?"

Gale squawked, crest rising.

"You were so determined to do everything on your own you didn't accept help relearning how to fly. And then you got yourself so tired you had to ride around on Rhydon and you couldn't battle, all because you were so _sure_ you could do everything _alone_ -"

The fearow pushed off the ground with an annoyed shriek. Ash laughed, readjusting his cap. Gale hated him bringing up his worst moments, but it was good blackmail. Couldn't have his friend getting a big head, of course.

From across the clearing, he could see narrow red eyes look incredulously at him. Ash directed a grin at them, not feeling abashed in the slightest. "Hey! It's training. You know of a better way?"

Bulbasaur snorted, tearing into another berry. Ash distinctly felt an annoyed green-purple as the golden blur of Scorch distracted Karma, but he let her continue. It was good training for everyone.

Scorch's after-evolution burst of hormones had lasted for longer than others, but they had been surprisingly easy to control. He hoped it was the same way for everyone.

xXx

There were a thousand and one signs all pointing to the direction of the gym, loudly announcing _The Volcano Gym!_ in multiple shades and colors. Ash wished he could harness the intimidating bulk of Rhydon as he shoved his way through the crowds. He could see multiple groups going in the same direction as him, all armed with pokeballs and talking loudly and obviously about a gym battle, and guessed he would have to put down a reservation for a time to have one at all. It'd be nice to scope out the place first, seeing the size and height of the ceiling.

After only thirty minutes of searching, he could see a gleaming red roof. It looked similar to a Pokemon Center, the ceiling made of colored glass to let the light in while also amping up the "fire gym" aspect of it. Ash had no idea how they managed to reinforce the glass to be up to the safety requirements for a gym, but guessed it was probably a semi-permanent psychic barrier.

The front of the building was made of some sort of stone-brick thing, colored a shade that looked like actual fire. Ash almost expected to feel heat from the walls. _Volcano Gym_ was written in dark red over top of the doors, some kind of blocky font. It looked much more garish than most of the other gyms he had been at, but he could feel himself get excited, blood pumping.

It took him a few minutes to get his way inside. He was immediately hit with a wave of heat, making him thoroughly glad he had shed his pants for shorts. Cinnabar Island was hot on the best of days, but this was ridiculous. He guessed it was just the natural ambiance of the fire types, as he didn't see any sort of heating mechanism in the building, but it was much more than he had expected. Resisting the urge to buy one of the rechargeable fans they were selling on a stand to his left, he looked around.

The inside was done in various shades of yellow and gold, covered in orange highlights. From the second he walked in, he could see to the battlefield, which… wasn't much of a battlefield, if he was being honest.

There was the standard guardrails, the almost invisible thrum of a psychic barrier, and the two sides where the battlers would stand. But beyond that, there were five doors, thick and metal with numbers ranging from one to five on them. The number one was in the middle.

A challenger was fighting right then. Ash squirmed past a crowd of cheering fans and made his way to the wall, which gave him a skewed but clear view of the field. On it, a man with bright clothing was biting his lip, concentrating, on the board overhead. Ash could barely make out the words written on its surface. _What is the coal pokemon_?

After too long of a moment, the man suddenly jerked upright. "Torkoal! It's torkoal!"

With a flourish, the leader opposite him nodded his head. He was donned in scarlet robes not unlike that of a psychic, but less flowing and cumbersome. On some invisible cue, the door labeled three slid upward, revealing a darkened interior. After a moment, a growlithe stepped out, mouth glowing with emboldened flames. The challenger whooped, grabbing one of his pokeballs and releasing a staryu. The robed man raised a hand, tilted his head, and dropped it. The battle began.

That didn't look like Blaine, nor like anything he had researched on the man. Ash frowned, staring around the room. It had all the bright, flashing lights of someone excitable, not the gruff, angry man the fire master was supposed to be.

"Trainer?" A voice asked. Ash turned to face it.

There was a counter secluded away in one corner, manned by a woman with a dull smile on her face. He walked towards her, removing his hands from his pockets. "Yeah. What is this?"

"This is the Volcano Gym, holder of the Cinder Badge. Would you like to reserve a time for your challenge?"

Ash's frown deepened. He gave another sweeping glance to the room, seeing the staryu pelt the growlithe with a powerful water gun. "No. Who's that up on stage? The man in the robes?"

"That would be Moya, the flaming hot leader of this gym, guaranteed to burn any hopefuls into ash!" Her eyes, though her words held excitement, were bored. She smiled at him, pulling out a timestamp. He stared at it. Every slot for the next three days was filled, and even after that, the times available were sparse.

"No, I mean, where's Blaine? He runs the gym on Cinnabar." The large audience cheered, the growlithe giving one last bark before falling.

She shrugged. "Retired about a decade ago. Where have you been? There were reports released about it."

"I- what?" Ash gaped at the room around him. "Why haven't I heard of this?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Because you haven't looked? Listen, kid. Blaine retired because he wasn't getting enough good challenges, and all the ones he was getting were from tourists that didn't give trainers any chance. But we couldn't exactly shout that to the world. What tourists would come here if we told them that they were the reason that Blaine left? They would leave by the boat full. So when they get here, we tell them that Blaine retired, but built this gym for his successor. We're not even lying - this is his old gym, though we did some renovations." She shrugged. "Most don't find it important enough to care. Blaine wasn't a very well-liked man. He was angry and bitter at everything but his fire types. Even when he was under the public's eye, he was never available, always doing something that he wouldn't talk about. There are sometimes a few people that show up to the Conference with the Volcano Badge, but most get the Cinder. It's a fire type gym from Kanto. What more do you want?"

"So you're not one of the League-sponsored gyms?" At the woman's nod, Ash's eyes narrowed. He was going to enter the Conference with eight badges from the eight gyms sponsored by the League and labeled as the most powerful. He wasn't here to go to a tourist location.

There was a cheer from the front. The contender had answered another question right and earned his second-to-last door. Moya raised his arms dramatically. "You're going to need a burn heal after this one!"

After a second, a rapidash emerged, whinnying proudly. The man quickly sent out a graveler to combat it. Ash looked away.

"Do you want a time or not?"

He shook his head as an answer, turning away to dig through the crowds again. Emerging from the front, he glanced up at the sky. Before noon. With a sigh, he went to find himself a restaurant. It was time to find out what had happened to Blaine.

xXx

Nibbling on the sandwich wrap he had ordered, Ash flicked his pokedex on, quickly flipping over to the tab he had previously opened. Blaine's page was full of his history, starting from his fourth year as a trainer, when the press had started to actually take notice of him. He had won the Conference with his specialist team and beaten one of the Elite Four, Dior. It had taken him another year to fight past the numerous trials the current Champion had set up before he had replaced Dior and slowly but steadily climbed through the ranks.

Blaine's rise to power had been full of endless training and explosive combos. He hadn't challenged the Conference in his first year, focusing on training his team, and it showed. He had no patience for the weaker challenges, and as a member of the Elite Four, he had risen through the ranks to become the second most powerful, right below Agatha, before suddenly retiring two and a half decades ago. He had been offered many jobs by the Champion, but had chosen to go back to Cinnabar Island and build a gym. It had taken off before disappearing around ten years ago, and the Volcano Gym had been made. He had shown up for all gym leader meetings, the Conference, and several others. But it was widely assumed he had become another one of the hermit Masters, living in the wilds and only training his pokemon. The League hadn't released any report to dissuade that.

Ash wasn't that surprised he hadn't known about the abandonment of the Cinnabar Gym. The information about it had been buried beneath four pages of other articles, and it had taken him a while to read through everything to find it. He drank the last of his water, groaning.

Well, he wasn't giving up now. Cinnabar Island had been Blaine's land ever since his third year as a trainer, and he had rarely been seen elsewhere. The woman had said that there had been causes of people showing up with the Volcano Badge - he was going to be one of them. Unless Blaine had built his new gym underground, he could scope out the entirety of the island until he found it. Gale would be priceless in that, searching the wilderness for anything that could be a gym, and it probably wouldn't take too long.

But not tonight. It was getting late, and there was still stuff to be done. He had checked in again with Nurse Joy, but she had apologized again with a tired smile, saying the crowds were mainly because of the up-and-coming Cinnabar Tournament, and offered another hotel. The wilderness would be fine for him.

He stretched his legs out farther, wincing at the pain from detaching his thighs from the chair in this heat, and started reading up on the more common fire types Blaine had been known to use.

xXx

"Hey, guys," Ash said, drawing his team's attention. They stopped in their general greetings to each other and came over to him. Scorch released a plume of flame at Tide's powder snow trial, padding over last. Rhydon stepped over to give her room.

"We're going to be searching for Blaine's gym. I've got no idea where he hid it, but most likely away from the city. It'll be hard to find, so we're going to be relying on Gale's keen eye and Rhydon's ground sense. For everyone else, just relax tonight, try to regain your energy. Early night today."

Gale, in preparation for a long flight, immediately flapped over to a protruding branch and landed. His head went beneath his wings and he was asleep almost instantly. Wraith pulled his hands back into his body to spend less energy, diving into Gale's shadow. Normally he kept watch, but Ash wasn't going to sleep yet, and he didn't mind a little rest to relax his mind.

Ash walked toward the visible section of the ocean. It had taken a bit of wandering to find a clearing that was edged with the coast, but it was the best for Tide. He sat rather awkwardly on the shore, trailing his feet in the high water line. Beneath him, Tide was on the bottom, fully replenishing his water stores. The sealeo was nothing but a vague blue blob through the waves.

Karma was only a few hundred feet away, sleeping to regain her energy. While she had locked a psionic bubble around her head to stop from hearing sounds, Ash didn't want to risk it.

Bulbasaur had actually allowed Scorch remarkably close to let both of them share the last dredges of sunlight over the clearing. The grass type hadn't removed her eyes from Scorch since the start, but Scorch had curled up in the same way she had as a vulpix, tails over her nose and releasing occasional flickers of flame. Bulbasaur continued watching as she absorbed sunlight, but she seemed more at ease with the fire type.

Ash twiddled his thumbs. He was remarkably bored. The ocean danced in the distance, the sun long gone beyond the horizon, but the last playful streams of light lit the crests of waves up.

The ground shook slightly between him, and he craned his neck back to see Rhydon stomping rather quietly over. He shuffled away to give him some room. Rhydon took a few seconds to get into the right position before sitting down, jerking Ash up a few inches from the impact. The ground type rumbled and placed his dull claws on Ash's shoulder, horn spinning in a question.

"Just thinking, bud," Ash said, leaning against his starter's bulk. "We've been going pretty fast, haven't we?"

Rhydon rumbled, directing his gaze to stare over the ocean as well.

"I know Gary has been pushed because of Professor Oak, but we've made a lot of progress, too. You're not even a year old yet, but you've evolved and fought Team Rocket. It's hard to think of you as a rhyhorn anymore. You were only two feet tall!"

The ground type growled in agreement, spinning his horn softly. Ash nodded his head before thunking it against his armored plates. They were, like always, cool to the touch.

"Are you ready for Blaine? Wherever he is." Rhydon spun his horn as an answer, the beginnings of a shock wave crackling in it. Ash rolled his eyes. "I'll get you thunder one day. Maybe then you'll be actually intimidating."

Rhydon snorted.

xXx

Ash grimaced, pulling the brim of his hat lower over his face. Even with that, the sun seemed to guide a beam directly into his eyes.

The first day had been walking directly on the shore, occasionally fighting his way past knotted magma larch and thorned bushes, just to make sure he had a reference point for where he was walking. Tide swam next to him, though he didn't enjoy the pressing heat of the tropical island. It was good resistance training.

But the water's edge didn't garner him everything. By the end of the first day, he hadn't found anything even similar to a path, and the few pokemon that allowed him to see them seemed confused by his presence. When night rolled around, he had given up with the water and started in towards the center of the island.

Now, he was on the edge of the volcano, able to stare over the tops of the trees as best he could. Gale was somewhere overhead, searching for anything that caught his interest, and Rhydon was below Ash, making sure he didn't fall right back down the mountain he had worked so hard to climb. Bulbasaur had asked to be recalled when he went up on the volcano proper - the pressing heat was constant and unforgiving.

The way was much more difficult, each step either being up or down rather than just flat, but he could see infinity more. Cinnabar Island was truly quite beautiful. The contrast of blue waters to the reddish stones of the land made its presence sharply clear, and though the few clouds tried their best, they couldn't chase the sunlight from revealing every hidden shade and hue.

At the three hour mark, he had run into a disgruntled pack of growlithe. They had been cheerfully threatened, but Rhydon only had to spin his horn for them to retreat. Gale circled overhead but didn't land - judging by the way they had scampered, he didn't deem them a real threat.

By the time Ash was thinking of heading back to the coast, Gale released a piercing shriek. The fearow landed quickly, finding a perch on the broken trunk of a pine, and squawked.

"Could we make it before dark?"

Gale shrieked, flaring his crest, and Ash grinned. "Not too far, then. Alright. Lead the way."

The avian took off again, slowing himself down immensely. Ash followed the enormous shadow on the ground to avoid looking into the daggers of the sun, picking his way carefully down the mountain. The pines gave a decent amount of shade, and before long they were walking steadily forward. Rhydon thumped his tail against the ground every now and then, no doubt sensing whatever structure Gale had found.

At about ten minutes, Ash felt the ground switch from dirt to something more stable, though he couldn't tell beneath the mess of leaves and needles. After a little while more, the stone bricking rose above. It was obviously old, though not by a ton, and dark green moss grew in every crack. Ash followed it curiously - there hadn't been a path before, and parts of the stone trial were humped and swollen by roots growing underneath. Before long, however, the magma larch started to fade away and reveal what was at the end.

An old, crumbling building made of the same grey stone. Ash frowned, walking closer. It wasn't in the worst condition - he could see clear remains of walls, and the foundation wasn't totally shot - but it was far from livable. Rhydon rumbled, flicking his tail again. Ash felt the ripple go outward, but his starter only rumbled again, horn spinning. Gale dove, pulling up at the last second to land on one of the walls. He stretched his wings out, looking around curiously.

Something smacked against one of his wings.

Gale shrieked in outrage, immediately spinning around. Blue energy surrounded his wings as he prepared to launch a razor wind. Ash only just ran forward fast enough to stop him.

The target of his rage was a man, old and crotchety, that had hit him with a stone. He grumbled as Gale shrieked, but seemed less than afraid, even with the move threatening him. From behind the man's sunglasses, Ash could feel a glare.

"Sorry," he apologized, putting a hand against Gale's wings. The bird retracted them, leering down with fury still taut in his movement. Rhydon stomped forward, horn rotating as a steady threat. Still, the man seemed less than worried.

"Who are you?" He demanded, voice gruff and angry.

Ash tried not to be offended. The man had just hit his friend and was now demanding answers, but he had had one experience with unfiltered anger and wanted to avoid any others. "I'm Ash Ketchum, a trainer, and this is Rhydon and Gale. I'm looking for Blaine, and his gym."

The man scowled and spat on the ground, pulling his ratty coat closer around himself. "Blaine's long gone, kid. He knew what was coming and didn't want to wait for the end. Tourists ruined it for everyone. If you want a word of advice, get off of Cinnabar Island. Nothing good happens here."

"What?" That hadn't quite been the reaction he was expecting. "No, I'm here to earn the Volcano Badge. I'm not going to the Conference without the eight badges."

"And how many do you have already? Two?"

Ash took a moment to respond. The man was excellent at getting under his skin. "Six. I'm here for a seventh."

"Then go fish one up from the sea," the man cackled. "Blaine tossed some and burned the rest. That's where all those in the Conference get them."

Finally, a response he had an answer to - "What about the gym battles logged with the League for each of those badges?"

The man's face darkened.

"My name is Ash Ketchum, and I'm looking for Blaine and the Cinnabar Gym," he repeated, letting his gaze slid upward. The broken building looked too well-kept for one old man. While the moss ran rampant and roots emerged from every crack, there were little to no leaves nor needles on the ground, and Ash could dimly see a soft light from where the man had emerged. "What's this place?"

"Pokemon Mansion, or what's left of it." Though his gruff tone persisted, he seemed fine with answering the question. "Used to be a place of great research, focusing on the being of the volcano, but one thing led to another and it died, just like all things here. All that's here now is old stone and broken truths."

Ash hadn't remembered other old people being quite as dramatic, and he looked to be around the same age as Professor Oak. "Do you know where I would find Blaine?"

"No one's left to find, kid," the old man growled. "Give up, find something else. There should be plenty of Cinder Badges littering the streets for anyone to come by and collect them. No one wants to earn anything anymore, so why bother?"

Ash frowned, focusing on the words. The edge of his lips quirked. He hadn't guessed it at first, but the man had given away a shade too much of his bitterness. "Thank you," he offered, tapping one finger against Gale's sleek feathers. "I guess I'll look elsewhere. Gale, if you mind?"

The avian shrieked and took off. Ash let the wind blow him backward, nearly throwing him to the ground, forcing Rhydon to catch him. When he came back up, the man was gone. Ash's grin grew.

"Rhydon, can you sense a battlefield anywhere?"

He didn't even have to activate his ground sense, pointing behind the Mansion with his dull claws. Ash patted his armored plates and whistled for Gale, who swooped low to follow them. He picked his way around the shattered walls - all of which were covered in thick black burns, now that he was paying attention - and made his way toward the back. The Mansion wasn't as large as he had originally thought, though he could see evidence of other floors beneath him.

The walls fell away suddenly, revealing something much better kept than the ruins. Thick stone slabs made up a border around a wide field, the inside dark overturned dirt. Newly planted magma larch lined the battlefield, but soot covered their bark and their growth was stunted. Ash walked up to his side, staring across the field.

The old man was standing opposite of him, having shed his torn coat and patch marked hat. In his place was someone Ash could recognize.

Blaine was almost exactly the same from every picture of the gym trainer he had seen, but it was something different seeing him in person. The white hair on the sides of his hair did nothing to detract from his sharp cheekbones and the lack of more only contributed to his angular face. It was a sharp, angry face, no matter the emotion its user was feeling. His hidden eyes didn't combat that either.

"Welcome, Ash Ketchum, to the Cinnabar Gym." Blaine's voice had lost its rasp, sounding much younger. Now that he was standing fully, shoulders straight, he looked like a completely different person. His words carried easily across the field even with the wind hissing its own speech.

"My gym is all about what it means to be a trainer - it is hard to get to and harder to beat. You can't just stomp in here with a few water types and win. You need strategies, you need to be able to adapt to any circumstance, you need to be able to take a pokemon that can't put out a flame and have it take down a volcano."

Ash nodded, a grin building on his face alongside the adrenaline.

"The Volcano Gym was an idea of mine. Tourists swarmed my gym, the real one, night and day and wanted badges. They brought anything with water in the typing, or any rock and ground, and counted on nothing but that. And when they lost, they were upset." Blaine's bushy eyebrows had sunk lower and lower with every passing word until there was nothing to be seen of his eyes. "That is not what it means to be a trainer."

Ash nodded again, not wanting to speak. It felt like Blaine had prepared this speech for a while.

"But this is the Cinnabar Gym. Are you ready to face the League's eight? Few find my gym and fewer walk away with the badge."

As an answer, Ash touched his pokeballs and grinned. Blaine's face split into a crooked smirk. "I'll accept that."

"Four vs four. Arcanine, go!" Blaine barked, releasing the first of his pokemon.

The fire type landed on the field with an impact large enough to reach Ash's feet. It was at its peak, muscles rippling beneath its thick coat and its fur flickering like flames itself. It woofed loudly, giving Blaine a quick look before padding towards its side of the field. Despite the playfulness the growlithe line was known for, this one was determined.

Ash frowned. Arcanine were fast, frustratingly so, and he had little doubt that Blaine's would be up to par. None of his pokemon could match it, so he'd have to find a way to stop it. He found the correct pokeball without looking and clicked its release.

Karma looked unflinchingly across the field, but Ash could see her claws tighten around her shine. She touched his mind with purple-orange, and he nodded as a reply. "It's fast, and it'll hit hard. You've got to block it from running, or aim for its legs. It won't give you a lot of chances." She hummed in response, black eyes fixed on the canine. It woofed again, ears perked.

Karma paused, fixing Blaine with an almost curious expression. The man didn't notice. Gale swooped down from above, perching on another broken wall. Rhydon took up position next to Ash, scarlet eyes fixed on the battlefield. After a moment, Ash recalled Gale, ignoring the bird's squawk. Karma and Ash met eyes, and he nodded. She nodded back.

"Finished with your pep talk?" Blaine called, something between a grin and a sneer on his face. Ash frowned. He could see why Blaine wasn't as liked as the other gym members.

Karma's eyes burned blue, shine raised high and ears perked. Ash could feel her power like a whisper, sneaking through the battlefield on a gust of wind. It wasn't as in-your-face as Rhydon or Gale's, but it was a different form of powerful, quieter.

The great dog didn't care, barking proudly as it shook the last of the stiffness from its limbs. There was silence for a moment.

With no referee, Blaine seized the first move. "Agility and flame burst. Distract it."

Arcanine barked and blurred out of sight. Ash only saw it in the flash of orange as it spat a flame burst, aimed directly for Karma's chest. She reflexively teleported out, the aftercrack louder in her surprise, but two more immediately launched in her direction. Ash could only just make out Arcanine as it circled the battlefield, staying just within the limits.

Ash cursed. If it was this fast just on agility, there was no chance Karma could catch it if it went into extreme speed. "Box yourself!" Blaine had put him on the defensive in the first ten seconds.

Karma raised her shine, blinking out of existence twice more before she got enough of a break to raise several walls of barriers. A flame burst exploded against one side, making the psychic energy flare blue, but it didn't break through. Arcanine slowed to a lope, circling her with narrowed eyes.

Blaine grinned, sunglasses flashing. "Flamethrower. Break its barriers, then crunch."

Ash blanched. "Karma, teleport!"

She flashed out just as a wave of fire roared over where she had just been, shattering the barriers after only a second. Arcanine cut it off quickly, blurring back into agility. Flame bursts started exploding once again for her, and Karma was forced to teleport again.

Ash grimaced, eyes narrowed. She'd be exhausted a lot sooner than Arcanine, and once it landed a hit on her, it would be a steady decline from there. He tried reaching out mentally, touching the stain in his mind and thinking as loudly as he could. _Barrier_.

He saw the blue-white of the energy an instant before Arcanine was slammed to a stop, yipping in pain. The canine immediately jumped back, fire flickering from between its teeth, but it was obvious that had hurt - it had been running at high speeds and the barrier had been less than forgiving.

"Confusion, lift it, then hit it with psycho cut. Aim for the legs," Ash commanded, almost jerking forward a step before he reined himself in.

Arcanine barely had time to release a tongue of flame before it was surrounded by blue, slowly lifting into the air. It yelped, thrashing, but without purchase on the ground, it could only writhe in midair. Karma's eyes glowed from the strain of holding the heavy being, her shine flashing blue before releasing several blades of energy. They struck Arcanine on its front paws and it yipped it pain, still held frustratingly in place.

"Crunch!" Blaine roared.

Shadows bloomed from between Arcanine's fangs and the confusion spluttered, dropping it inch by inch. Karma's eyes glowed and she used her last thread of connection to jerk it higher into the air. Arcanine hit the ground with a crack, whining, but then it was running. There was blood from the cuts on its paws, but the fire type seemed to have much thicker skin than Ash had hoped for.

Karma flashed green-red with worry and teleported, shine held high. The fire type spun on its paws and raced back toward her, unable to take full advantage of its speed in the close quarters. But it was still fast enough to launch a blistering flamethrower, forcing Karma to teleport. It slipped in what to could only be extreme speed, completely disappearing from view an instant before it sunk black fangs into Karma's midsection.

Her psionic bubble popped. The kadabra was forced onto her thin legs, wide tail pressed against the ground to give her balance. There was no glow in her eyes, and her shine was boring, plain silver. A grin cut across Blaine's face. "Flamethrower."

Karma barely had a moment to look up before the wall of flames slammed into her. Ash only saw a second of her golden form before red confused it. He jerked. He couldn't feel anything in his mind. Arcanine kept up the flames for nearly a minute. Blane's covered eyes were fixed on Ash.

Ash felt a pained, searing touch in his mind - the flamethrower must have burned away the remnants of the crunch - and shouted. "Up!"

Karma burst through the top of the flamethrower, psionic bubble inflated to the point she was above the worst of it. Fire rippled over her golden fur until she smothered it with her power, eyes still blank. She twitched in midair as she struggled to regain her power.

Dark moves immediately cut off all psychic abilities, but only as long as the move lasted. For a non dark type to use something against her, it wouldn't take too long for her to regain her powers. Karma cracked away as Arcanine aimed another flamethrower in her direction, but she stayed high above the battlefield. The canine paced beneath her, plumes of fire escaping from its maw every few seconds.

"Box. Exhaust it," Ash said grimly. She had been incredibly hurt by the crunch and then the long exposure of the flamethrower, but there was enough gas left in the tank to take down this fire type.

Arcanine turned to run to an outer corner, but Karma's eyes blazed and a barrier appeared directly before it. This time, it didn't fall for the same trick, skidding to a stop a foot before. But while it had prevented itself from getting hit, it hadn't stopped Karma from surrounding it with a small fortress of barriers. Arcanine, and Blaine by extension, growled. It tried to pace inside the box, but there wasn't enough room.

Karma flicked her claws down, a drop of molten silver sliding down her fur. At once, all of the barriers began to slide inward.

Arcanine howled, cranking its head back to release a torrent of fire. Karma teleported out of the way, missing it by an inch, but her box crept steadily closer. It reared back, fire roaring to its fangs, but it only shattered one barrier, and another slid forward to take its place. At Blaine's command, its fangs glowed with crunch, but Karma sniped a psybeam and broke its concentration. Her eyes burned with escaping power. She was fading fast, both from her extremely inflated psionic bubble and the stress of keeping such a massive pokemon contained. The barriers pressed against Arcanine's sides, keeping it frozen even as it thrashed against its restraints.

"Psychic!"

Karma's eyes flashed. She cut the outward energy connection from her to the barriers and they stopped moving, giving Arcanine a split second of relief before it was surrounded with a much more intense blue than confusion. Using the first level, she dragged it up into the air, building the second. After thirty seconds, her eyes and ears glowing navy, an intense blast of power struck Arcanine on its back and threw it to the ground. It hit the earth and didn't move. Karma immediately sagged, dropping to the ground before she caught herself.

Blaine narrowed his eyes, clicking the release. Arcanine disappeared in a flash of scarlet, but the fire master didn't wait more than a second before releasing his next. Even before it had fully formed, Ash heard the howl.

It was richly dark, full of something he couldn't place. The hairs rose on the back of his neck. His eyes forced themselves onto the field, something stirring in the back of his mind.

The houndoom snarled, its horned tail lashing. Sunlight burned off of its silver horns and ridges. Karma raised her shine, black eyes narrowed, but there was a drag in her movements and sinking from her psionic bubble. Her burns were bright and obvious now that she had stopped moving.

Ash frowned, thumbing Karma's pokeball. Every one of her attacking moves were psychic type, something a houndoom would rip apart without thinking about. She just didn't have any way to combat it. Apologizing to the red-yellow in his mind, he pressed the button and called her back. Blaine scoffed. "Running away at the first disadvantage?"

He let out a low breath. "You did brilliant," he said to her pokeball, reattaching it to his belt. It twitched in response, his stain flashing before going dull. He thought quickly. Houndoom were fast, vicious, and powerful. Their fire attacks, while not as powerful as some other fire types, were made from a strange toxin in their stomach that they ignited before it exited their mouth. Combined with their dark typing and brutal strategies, he needed someone fast. It'd just hit and run for Rhydon, and he didn't want Gale's more fragile body to get close to such a physical attacker. Tide would be a sitting ducklett and Wraith would be disadvantaged and overheated.

Scorch howled her arrival, tails flaring above her head and releasing a wave of heat. Blaine actually reacted on her appearance, an edge of the anger sliding off his form as he stared at her with interest. Though Ash couldn't see his eyes past his sunglasses, he imagined the man was impressed. Scorch was large and well-trained, and it was clear to see.

Blaine opened his mouth to make the first move, but Ash whispered his own commands before he could. "Circle with it. Avoid getting too close, will-o-wisp for distractions, and keep it annoyed. Once it's riled up, poison it then use toxic cloak." Scorch's impressive hearing pulled through, as Blaine didn't react to what he had said. She flicked an ear back as an acknowledgment, stretching each of her tails out. Two pairs of red eyes met.

Scorch started the circle, staying low to the ground with her tails tense. Houndoom matched her, slowly walking around each other. Ash could see the pokemon's immense muscles, bulky beneath its coat, as well as the hunger in its form. While houndoom were loyal, protective pokemon, they were vicious in battle.

"Ember," Blaine said carefully. Scorch activated flash fire an instant before it hit, the grey-red flames easily absorbed into her armor. Houndoom snarled at the insult, sinking lower as it stalked. Scorch matched it, tails whipping over her head.

Blaine snorted. "Charge it."

Houndoom roared its agreement, immediately springing forward. Scorch shivered and released three will-o-wisp, which bobbed pleasantly in the air and forced Ash's eyes to connect with their cores. Rhydon rumbled and looked away.

The dark type slowed in the middle of its charge, ears perked as it passed by the balls of ghostly flames, but it continued on after. Ash frowned. As he had thought but hoped against, Houndoom's dark typing reduced the ghostly call of the will-o-wisp to a mere suggestion.

Scorch stopped, used iron tail, and swept her tails in front of her like a protective barrier. Houndoom slammed into it with the force of a train, throwing her back, but the dark on its fangs did less damage. She recovered too slow from the hit, and the dark type pounced again, striking her chest with its horns. Scorch yowled, struggling against the ground. Houndoom snarled, ignoring her fiery armor to sink blackened fangs into her side. She thrashed and, in her distraction, forgot to maintain flash fire. It deactivated with a hiss, and both Blaine and Houndoom's eyes lit up. An enormous flamethrower rolled over the vulpine.

Houndoom leaped back, watching the fire carefully. Its black nose twitched as it sniffed the air, the shackles on its paws grinding against each other.

The fire disappeared quickly, pulled into Scorch's once-again activated flash fire. But even with that, it was impossible to ignore the burns littering her pelt. A snarl lit the air. Houndoom raised its head, horns thrust back brazenly, before a wave of purple-black slammed into its chest.

The dark type recoiled, but it was too late. Toxic seeped past its thin fur and sunk into its skin, poisoning it almost immediately. By the time it had flinched, Scorch was already moving, fire burning at her times and more iodine spilling from her mouth.

Right. Ninetales were known for being vengeful pokemon. Ash had forgotten about that.

Another burst of toxic flew through the air. Houndoom raced to the side, tail lashing, but Scorch aimed a neat flamethrower at the iodine and blurred back with quick attack. It exploded.

Toxic cloak roared over the field, thick black smoke pouring like water and staining anything clear. In an instant, it had swallowed the ground, impenetrable even by the sun's mightiest efforts. Thick clouds boiled outward, obscuring both pokemon on the field.

Blaine leveled Ash a glare over the field, but he didn't notice, too busy pulling his shirt over his mouth. Toxic cloak was, well, toxic, but not nearly to the level of smog or other moves. Scorch would be poisoning herself by walking through the smoke, but it wouldn't be enough to put her out of the battle. Over time, she'd be able to work up an immunity to it, but that wouldn't be for a fair while.

Things were silent for a while. Ash knew Scorch was using extrasensory on herself to search for Houndoom, while the dark type was probably using its natural nocturnal senses to hunt. Scorch could easily avoid Houndoom, given as nothing had happened, and that was only serving to make it more furious. Ash heard a deep howl that brought the same shivers back to his spine.

The smoke stirred and then Scorch crept out of the black, all tails raised and gleaming with liquid fire. She stared around with reflective eyes, searching for her opponent. It found her first.

Houndoom growled, fangs dripping with shadows, and pounced. It cleared nearly twenty feet in a single bound, falling upon her like a star.

She exploded into flames at its touch.

Blaine and Houndoom only had a moment to jerk before the real Scorch lunged from the black, tails burning a fierce silver, and slammed into its side with iron tail. Houndoom went flying back, tail whipping before its horns caught in the dirt and dragged it to a stop. It ripped itself back up to its paws, almost staggering in the process - the attack had come out of nowhere, and it was powerful. Shivers wracked its form from the toxic.

"Flamethrower!" Scorch listened with a howl, jerking her tails forward to launch a blistering wave of heat. But Blaine just smiled, gesturing for Houndoom to run back, which it did.

Ash cursed as the flames fizzled out a little before reaching the dark type, just enough so that heat only rolled over it and ruffled its fur. Scorch's limited range had been setting them both back. Her snarl rolled over the battlefield at her own failure. "Flame charge, end this. Circle it and hit it with quick attack."

Her fur lit again in a flaming mass, darting quickly for the dark type. It snarled, digging its claws into the ground to brace. She slammed into it, throwing them back both back. Houndoom thrashed, twisting around to blast her with another mass of flames, uncaring of its uselessness. Scorch absorbed them easily, leaping forward to slash at its face with her claws. Houndoom bounded forward to meet her.

They met in a clash at the center of the field. Houndoom flinched more and more as the poison in its veins grew stronger, and Blaine knew it - his shouts of moves grew more and more frequent. But Houndoom and Scorch were too involved with ripping each other apart to focus. Neither trainer could have stopped it at this point.

Scorch scored a lucky hit across Houndoom's face, claws drawing blood from the base of one of its horns. It yelped in pain, flinching back, before the toxic redoubled its strength again. Scorch seized the opportunity with vicious clarity.

Nine iron tails smote the dark type across the muzzle, slamming it into the ground. It made a pitiful whine, struggling to its paws, but Scorch raced forward and snarled a warning. Flames burned on her tails. Houndoom whined again but stopped moving.

Scorch barked, marching back over to Ash's side. But he could see the sag in her shoulders from the physical match with Houndoom and the minor effects the toxic cloak was having on her.

Blaine snorted, recalling his pokemon with a flick of his fingers. He tucked it back into his pocket, staring across the field. This time, he took a while, staring at Scorch with a curious expression on his face. The vulpine glared back, plumes of fire escaping from her mouth with every breath.

His next pokemon was a mass of lava, sinking a few inches into the ground before it gained control of itself. The magma parted itself to reveal a solidified shell, thick and grey with flames bursting through the cracks. An unstable face appeared, wide eyes and a blank expression. Ash frowned, taking a few seconds to place it - magcargo. They were uncommon at the best of times, and he couldn't remember seeing any of them used in the Conference for many years. Fire and… rock, he thought.

Scorch flexed her tails above her head, each spinning around each other like a vortex. Magcargo just gazed dully at her. It was very different from the whip-thin thread Houndoom had been on.

"Rock slide." Blaine said, adjusting the frame of his sunglasses. There was a narrow grin on his face.

Magcargo made a strange, groaning noise, and the ground rumbled beneath it. Chunks of dirt yanked themselves into the air, smoothly hardening to rock midway there, and hovered over Magcargo's shell. Scorch's eyes flashed blue, her body streamlining with quick attack, as the boulders fell.

Ash kept his mouth shut - he would only distract her - but he couldn't help the nervous twitch in his body as the rock slide thundered to the ground. He could only see her as a wave of gold as the ground fell.

Magcargo suddenly let out another groan, and the rocks fell lifelessly wherever they had been hovering. Scorch leaped backward, a growl in her throat. More fire spurted from the cracks iron tail had left in its shell, but it didn't seem to recognize the pain. Ash was unnerved by the blankness the pokemon exuded. He didn't like how lifeless it seemed.

"Pin it with rock throw," Blaine said, his grin growing wider.

Rock throw took a worryingly little amount of time to summon. Scorch barely had time to blur out with quick charge before stones roared from the skies toward her. They were too fast and she was too weak to avoid them. One hit her side and she stumbled, then another struck her back paw, and then Magcargo aimed the full force of the move directly at her fallen form.

Ash clicked the release before they could land. Scorch twitched in her pokeball but calmed down soon enough, settling into the muddled sleep. Magcargo stopped using rock throw, eye stalks flicking toward him. It still hadn't moved. He guessed it wasn't a very mobile pokemon.

Tide appeared with a low bark, flippers slapping the ground and a fierce expression in his black eyes. Magcargo stared back. The sealeo barked again, twisting around to nod at Ash before turning back to the battle.

Blaine sneered. "Water type, little wonder. Flame burst. End this."

Magcargo groaned, fire spurting from its shell, and opened its strange, unstable mouth. Bursts of fire exploded outward, sharp white core flashing. Tide's eyes tracked them immediately, using all the training with Gale, and sniped out several water guns. The flame bursts exploded on contact with a hiss of steam, but the shockwave didn't reach either pokemon.

"Brine. Test its defenses," Ash said, eyes narrowed. Magcargo was powerful - how it handled Scorch showed that - but having straight lava as the majority of a body most likely led to poor defenses against something that could put it out. Such as a sealeo.

Blaine sneered. "Flamethrower."

Tide barked, opened his maw, and released a powerful stream of water. Magcargo snapped out a burst of flames but the brine overtook it immediately, releasing only a hint of steam before slamming into the fire type. It groaned again, pushed backward, and Ash could see where part of its body had solidified into the same grey stone as its shell before melting again. Heat trickled into the air.

It tried rock throw next, yanking up rocks much slower than it had before and hurtling them at Tide. The sealeo immediately spat powder snow at the ground, dragging the temperature of even the mountain down, and started sliding furiously across the field. Rocks rained down, but Tide's skidding prevented most of the hits. Dust billowed outward, turning Tide's cream fur grey, but it didn't matter as he sniped off a fluctuating aurora beam and broke off a chunk of its shell. Magcargo groaned, trying to stop another barrage of water guns with flamethrower and failing.

"Shell smash!" Blaine shouted.

Magcargo groaned and began to glow. Fire burst from the cracks on its shell, the rock beginning to burn the same red as its body. Tide's black eyes widened.

"Ice curl!" Ash shouted.

Tide hunkered down, ice crawling over his fur. Magcargo glowed brighter. He only just begun to flash silver by the time the fire type's shell exploded.

Ash jerked, covering his head, but a psychic barrier surged to life at the last second and caught the flaming shrapnel two feet before his face. Rhydon rumbled, horn spinning.

Magcargo took a moment to reshuffle its body mass, reducing the lava on its head and extending its body. After that, it took off like a shot toward the still-recovering Tide, moving infinitely faster than Ash would have expected.

The sealeo, peppered with endless burns, reared back. Magcargo slammed directly into his chest, immediately burning him, but it couldn't avoid Tide's two hundred pounds from crunching down in a body slam.

Magcargo collapsed back. The shell smash and charge had been its last attempt to defeat Tide, and while it had injured him, it hadn't stopped him. Tide barked and spat out a last water gun. There was the hiss of lava and then Magcargo slowly began to harden, reds dripping away to join greys and blacks, but Blaine recalled it before the process could finish. There was a tightness in his face but a grin there as well. He looked almost excited.

"You've made it farther than I had guessed, but this is where it ends. Magmortar, come on out!"

Ash had expected this, as the pokemon was known as Blaine's ace, but that didn't stop his wince as the seven-foot behemoth of a fire type slammed into the ground.

Black shackles wrapped around its limbs, another ringing its throat. A tail of pure fire roared behind it, smoke trickling from the flame on its head. The claws on the end of its cannons twitched, a grin splitting its scarlet face. Deep grey eyes stared at Tide unflinchingly.

Magmortar snorted out a wave of fire, raising one cannon. Embers popped off of its shoulder flames, bringing the air to higher than even uncomfortable levels. Tide barked at the injustice, his thick fat preventing him from cooling down. Ash slapped the back of his hand over his forehead and tried to focus on the battle. The fire type was ridiculously powerful, it was obvious.

"Hail," Ash commanded when Blaine didn't speak. "Keep it over the battlefield, then try and freeze it with everything you've got. Brine after."

Tide barked, cranking his head back. A white glow surfaced in his throat, visible for only a second before racing into the sky and exploding thirty feet above the ground. Immediately, the sunlight seemed to darken, clouds emerging from blue and heat disappearing. Magmortar growled, claws retracting into its arms. Chilled winds swept over the battlefield, digging claws into the sweat on Ash's brow and yanking it away-

A tiny, compact ball of fire slammed into the center of the growing hailstorm and imploded.

Ash jerked. It wasn't like Malva's Pyroar, who had just blasted the move apart, but something different. The explosion continued outward, scorching clouds beyond use and tearing down the darkness the sky had harbored. Any sense of chill disappeared. The sun doubled, and then doubled again.

He cursed. Sunny day. Though Tide couldn't sweat, he looked like he wished to, mouth open and panting. He was an ice type first and foremost, and this battlefield wasn't doing any favors for him. Against every other weather move, hail would have prevailed, but sunny day was built to destroy hailstorms.

Magmortar thrived in the heat, random flames emerging from its body every few seconds to crackle against the air. It pounded its fists together, claws still retracted, and aimed one cannon in Tide's direction. The sealeo faced it down, unafraid, but Ash's second command reached him.

He swelled, neck inflating as he summoned every bit of water he had, and spat a tsunami at the fire type.

Magmortar snorted, pushed its two cannons in front of it, and released a storm of flames.

The heat hit Ash like a wave, blowing his hair away from his eyes and pinning his shirt to his chest. He forced himself not to stumble back a step. Tide's whiskers blackened in the heat, any remaining ice crystals melting from his fur, removing the last bit of protection he had. The brine still hadn't touched Magmortar.

Ash's voice tightened. "Tide, ice curl. Then get close and do what you can."

The sealeo barked back, but he knew what was coming. Magmortar was incredibly strong. The only way they were going to defeat the thing was to injure it as much as possible. Ice crawled over his blue fur, the last of his water storages, and he flashed a dull silver. Magmortar finished evaporating the incredible brine, filling the air with steam before it destroyed that, too. It glowered across the field, fire wreathing its form like a Beast itself.

Tide didn't have enough water left to create a powder snow trial, but he shoved himself forward doggedly, flippers slamming onto the ground. Magmortar raised its cannons again, fire burning inside, and released.

The sealeo bellowed in pain, fur melted from the heat, but he was so heavy the knockback was little. Even as he burned, he threw himself forward and slammed Magmortar into the ground.

Ash recalled him the next second. Magmortar roared as the target of its anger disappeared, jumping to its feet and releasing a wave of fire that crackled through the air with the force of a fury wronged. Tide's pokeball immediately went quiet, even his regular chill gone from Ash's fingers. He sighed, staring across the field at Blaine's smug expression.

"Come on, Rhydon. We're finishing this," Ash said, nodding at his starter. The ground type growled back, horn spinning. He stomped onto the battlefield, ignoring the last remains of Magmortar's rage crackling in the air. Magmortar pulled its claws back out, bashing them together. Its almost metallic arms rang.

Rhydon bellowed back, slamming his tail into the ground. A ripple spread outward, the earth spiking up around his feet. Magmortar narrowed its eyes at the display of power, snapping its head back and breathing out a huge column of pure white flames. Rhydon pretended not to be impressed, crushing his claws together.

Blaine cackled. "They look pleased. Let's see how well your ground type deals with this. Lava plume!"

Magmortar's face cracked into a terrible grin. It bared its surprisingly small fangs at Rhydon, lashed its tail, and slammed one foot into the ground.

It trembled, and for a split second, Rhydon stared. His plates ground against each other. Then the earth cracked open and magma exploded outward in a torrent of heat and stone.

He roared in surprise, tail whipping, and stumbled back. Magmortar stood in the rain of molten rock without flinching, natural camouflage activating as its skin seemed to move like fire itself. Within seconds, it had disappeared entirely.

"Widespread!" Ash shouted.

Rhydon rumbled, jerking his claws up. Rocks and dirt rose to match it, hovering around his form. With a growl, he sent it flying out in a shock wave around him. There was a grunt from somewhere in the flames, but by the time Rhydon had turned in that direction, more fire had been released and there was no chance he could find it.

His primary horn spun. Rhydon tilted his head one way and then the next, scarlet eyes flashing. He raised his tail and slammed it into the ground. With a groan, half a dozen stone edges burst through the dirt, ripping through the magma to stab at the sky. There was no response from Magmortar.

Another crack and then more stone edges emerged, covering another area. Ash grinned, if a bit nervously - Rhydon was closing down the field section by section, forcing Magmortar's range of motion into smaller sections, but the fire was steadily encroaching on what land he had. While his armor could survive a trip through a volcano, Magmortar could direct it to break his plates and get underneath. He wasn't old enough to have the thick armor that allowed him to survive a barrage of lava plumes.

On the fourth wave of stone edges, Magmortar let out a grunt. Rhydon immediately snapped in its direction. He stomped the ground, sending a ripple outward, and then narrowed again. Before Magmortar could move again, he roared and slammed his tail into the ground hard enough to make it crack.

Ash could see the shakes that meant he had just used earth power. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Implosion!"

Rhydon slammed his foot into the ground, triggering another earth power, but this one fell as a crater. There was another grunt from Magmortar, this one louder - at least before Rhydon bellowed, jumped, and landed with enough force to shake the earth.

It wasn't earthquake, more directed and less powerful, but it had the desired effect. The ground shook as the crater imploded, trapping Magmortar beneath the earth. Rhydon rumbled, pleased, even as the toll settled itself in the slump of his shoulders. It was a powerful and untrained move, and he had yet to perfect it.

Ash grinned, glancing across the field, only to pause. Blaine still had a grin over his face, sunglasses flashing.

"This area is connected to the volcano. The entire underground is filled with numerous lava tunnels, which is why lava plume was so easy. That earth power you used dropped Magmortar directly into one of them, and it won't be too long until she comes back up."

Not two seconds later, the ground beneath Rhydon crumbled, and an enraged fire type exploded upward. He bellowed, falling back, but he didn't have more than a second before Magmortar slammed double fire punches into his chest, sinking a quarter of an inch into his plates.

The ground type dragged himself to his feet, using the motion to spin and slam his tail into his opponent. The weapon that could shatter steel only flung Magmortar back, giving Rhydon a second to recover before it was flying back at him, fires wreathed in red.

With the flames still crackling in the background, Magmortar was sped up, each fist flying with practically an afterimage. Rhydon was slow on the best of days, but his massive armor allowed him to weather the barrage. Each of his hits slid the fire type back, but it only grew more and more enraged, punches slipping from aimed to wild.

Magmortar stumbled for a second as Rhydon dodged, its punch overextending, and Ash snatched the opportunity. "Shock wave!"

Rhydon's horn crackled with electricity, blasting out to slam into the fire type's chest. It roared in pain, the lightning attacking its nerves, and shuddered. For a split second, it froze, paralysis taking over. Rhydon lowered his head and stabbed his double horns directly into its chest.

Blood like lava spilled over his face, dragging furrows through his plates, but Rhydon didn't let up. He jerked his head up, forcing Magmortar off the ground, but it continued to scream at him, fists flying. It slid another inch down Rhydon's horns, releasing an enormous flamethrower at the same time. Rhydon bellowed from the fire, stone ears losing their defined shape, but Blaine recalled his pokemon the next second. The ground type stumbled from the lack of weight, clawing at the burning blood still on his face. His claws carved deep furrows into the soft stone-keratin over his body. After a second, he stopped, but his breaths rasped out and pain was evident in his face.

"Huh," Blaine grunted. He seemed to have lost part of his edge now that he wasn't battling, a grin pulling at the corners of his lips. "You win."

Psychic energy slipped over the field, crushing each flame. Smoke trickled into the air, the heat reducing a fraction and lessening the burn over Ash's forearms. Rhydon growled, stomping off the field to avoid it. His plates were partially melted, molding with each other, but they were cooling quickly. Blaine finished crossing over the stone path, barely seeming to be affected by the fire.

"Here's your badge."

It was small, made of red quartz with a smaller stone in the middle. Ash handled it carefully, wanting to avoid cutting himself on the jagged edges. It was warm. He stared at it for a moment longer - this was proof that he had found the old Master, an ex-member of the Elite Four. He grinned, running one finger over the quartz.

"How long have you had your ninetales?"

Ash looked up, blinking - the question had come out of nowhere - and took a moment to reply. "Since the first month of my journey. She was the leader of a pack out on Route 8."

"But she's only recently evolved?" At Ash's nod, he grunted and continued. "I could tell. What are you teaching her now?"

Ash was a little more prepared this time around. "Fire spin right now. She's having some trouble picking up the basics, but it's coming along. I want to try and get it ready in time for the Tournament."

Blaine scoffed, the sound harsh. "You're doing it all wrong. What two tails are her control and release?"

Ash… didn't have an answer for that. He frowned, thinking over everything he had read online about ninetales. "I'm not sure. All of them? She normally uses all nine."

Blaine narrowed his eyes. "I've never had a ninetales, but plenty roam my mountain. I've got an agreement with a pack of them where we stay out of each others' way, but I've worked with their leader. She's plenty strong. My guess is that she's about seven hundred years old, maybe six. But I've learned from her. Ever wondered why the vulpix line has more than one tail?"

Ash hadn't, actually. It had just been another one of those facts about the world he had accepted, like why dugtrio had three heads or dragonite grew limbs only in its final stage. "Er, no?"

"Each tail is different. There's a reason for their name. While each ninetales has different tails, depending on their abilities, three tails always stay the same. Release, control, and absorb."

Blaine scratched at his chin, thinking. Ash felt a bit like he should take notes.

"Their names should define them. Release is normally the largest tail, as well as the one in the middle. This tail is used for releasing most fire attacks. You better have noticed how Houndoom could easily avoid her flamethrower just by getting back."

"Yeah." Ash nodded, a grimace on his face. "Her range decreased a lot when she evolved."

Blaine grunted. "That's because she's only supposed to use one tail, maybe three, for the majority of her fire attacks. Her release tail should handle most everything, occasionally using the two closest tails for more powerful attacks. For ones like overheat or fire blast, it would be all of her tails, but it's overkill for most of her attacks, and it decreases the range. Ember or even flamethrower should stick to her release tail." He fixed Ash with a glare. "And don't think about overpowering every move she does by using all of her tails. You're exhausting her, and quickly. If you had her only use her release tail for her battle, she would have brought Marcargo to his knees, maybe even knocked him out."

Ash winced. His thoughts had been somewhere down that line. "So that should get her range back to normal?"

"Much larger. Ninetales are long-distance pokemon, and using only her release tail, she should be able to reach most anything within her eyesight, especially if she uses her control tail to aim it. This is mainly for her illusions, as well as aiming moves like ember, will-o-wisp, or fire spin. This one won't take too long to master, as the vulpix line has good control. The last is her absorb tail. This one works with her flash fire ability, as it works with collecting fire from her attacks and redistributing it. It also helps alleviate overheating from her internal flame. This tail is mostly dormant, so she'll use this one alongside her release tail if needed." Blaine readjusted his sunglasses, grinning at Ash's gobsmacked face. "That's all I can tell you about tails, though. Each ninetales has different abilities for their last six."

"How the hell do you know so much?" Ash finally settled on. "I haven't read about anything like this online, and you don't even have one!"

"Hands-on experience." He snorted. "I don't need to write it. If I learned it once, I'll remember it until distortion takes us all down. You work enough with one type of pokemon and you learn everything you could ever need to know."

"And of course the information is online. People have noticed that their ninetales has better attacks from one tail to the next. But what people don't have access to is a seven hundred-year-old ninetales with a pack behind her. I've learned a lot."

"Then why don't you release it? Tell the people?"

Blaine's expression turned dark, serious. "Not all information should be widespread. It's best if only a few know everything."

Ash wanted to say something but didn't. Blaine's eyes flashed a dull blue.

"You're ruining your chances of a decent fire type, and I don't want to see another fall into the mass of endless spitting beasts with no passion nor skill. She's got too much potential for that." Blaine glanced away, allowing Ash to breath out sharply and run a hand through his hair. Talking with Blaine was difficult in a way he couldn't quite explain, a heavy presence both in coming up with proper answers and in his mind. The man's anger didn't help matters, either.

There was another section of silence. Then Blaine grunted, adjusting his sunglasses, and fixed Ash with a glance. "Five minutes. Ask me anything you want. That's your second reward. It would have been ten, but you already used five up with your ninetales questions."

Ash blinked. It sort of made sense, in some weird, twisted way - Blaine was a fire Master, having been not available for public question for many years, and he rushed to find something he was curious about.

"Why do you have the Volcano Gym at all? Isn't that just giving the tourists what they want?"

"It's a worthless badge. Anyone worth anything would look at that badge and know it was a cheat. It isn't one of the eight, so it's as worthless as any of the other minor badges. More so, because it's a tourist badge." Blaine glared, not at Ash, but something beyond him. "Who cares what they think."

Minor gyms were counted for letting trainers into the Conference, and while they didn't attract much attention, they weren't looked upon as weak. Ash kind of guessed that Blaine didn't agree with that line of thinking.

He thought back to the battle, searching for another question. The last pokemon, the most powerful, and he opened his mouth.

"Where'd you find a magmarizer?"

Blaine shrugged. "Here. They're like Fire Stones but a lot more powerful - they form in the heart of a volcano, where Entei are born. It's said that every volcano has a bunch of them at its center, but so few manage to drift up enough that magmar can grab one. She just dove into a stream one day and came out a magmortar. It was going to happen eventually, living in a volcano like this. Comes with the territory." He snorted at his own joke.

"What about protectors? Where do you find them?"

Blaine narrowed his eyes. "That's a little more tricky. They're naturally made - most evolutionary items are - but no one knows what they are. All rhydon are excellent at finding all sorts of metals so there isn't a chance to study them before they're used. And they're consumed on use, bit like the stones, so no chance after the transformation. How many rhyperior are there today?"

"Ten." Ash had researched that a thousand times over again, but he didn't know why there were so few. There were plenty of magmortar, and electivire, and others with evolutionary items needed. But not the rhyhorn line.

"Makes sense. No one knows what a protector is besides some hunk of stone, and the rhydon sure don't give them too long to figure it out before they're used. My guess is that it's some sort of mineral found deep in the earth, somethin' from the core or whatever. Once a rhydon eats it, their body becomes able to stimulate creating it and so they form a new coat of armor and then there's a rhyperior. But there aren't enough to research on. I know there's some punk named Remo that has one, same with Palmer, but no clue on the rest. You don't exactly have to document your pokemon."

Ash frowned, staring over at his starter. Rhydon was just as fixated as he was, scarlet eyes narrowed and dusty breath coming from his nose. He was young but powerful. He deserved just as much of a chance as any others.

Would he stay a rhydon forever?

Ash would do everything he could to make sure that the answer was no. All of his pokemon should have the right to reach their final form, to reach the peak of their power. If a protector was what he needed, he'd find a way to get it.

After that, Ash shrugged. "I don't have a lot of questions. That was pretty much it."

"Huh," Blaine grunted again. "Where are you going next?"

"I'm going to stay for the tournament, actually," Ash offered. "It should be in only a week."

"Ha! As if." Blaine spat at the ground, ignoring Ash as he stepped away. "Muryo Bay's been fighting with ships recently. I'm curious whether she'll actually let the tournament come here, or put a stopper on the whole thing." He stuffed his hat back over his head, tilting the brim down. Though it didn't look like much, Ash was astounded how much he changed. Blaine had curled his shoulders, loosened his grip on everything, and generally hunched over. In an instant, he was now an old man Ash wouldn't look twice at.

"Why do you do that?" Ash asked curiously. Blaine paused in his act of tilting his sunglasses over his eyes. "Pretend to be someone else."

"That's another question," he muttered, but answered. "If it came out that Blaine, the ex-Elite Four fire master of Kanto, was still living on Cinnabar, this place would be even more overrun than it is. But no one worries about the old hermit living in the ruins of the Mansion." He shrugged, a smirk tugging at this lips. "Besides, it's much easier being rough and bitter when no one cares about you. No need to put on a facade anymore."

Ash frowned, watching the man pull on his old jacket from where it was hung on a crumbled wall, the one dusted and ratty. "Why not leave? Go public somewhere else, rebuild your gym, and let the Volcano Gym die?"

Blaine's movements slowed. From behind his sunglasses, his eyes flashed blue. "I won't leave Cinnabar Island. It was where I was placed to be and I won't leave it." Before Ash could be confused, he elaborated. "I was in the mountains in my second year of being a trainer. My magmar wasn't enough, and I was dying. But then one of the Peacemakers saved me. Fire filled the skies. And then I was on this island, sitting at the base of its volcano. I'll never forget that." An expression besides frustration and the thrill of battle touched his face, a gentle curve of his lips that reduced the sharp edges of his cheekbones. After a moment, it was gone. "I was saved for a reason. Cinnabar Island is where I will stay. Enough people find me per year for a battle and I have a good life caring for this land."

Blaine turned to him, that same hungry grin on his face. "Get out of here. When you come back, I expect your ninetales to be in peak condition. Maybe she'll even meet with the leader of the pack."

Ash grinned back. "She'd like that."

"Any fire type worth their flame would."

And like that, Blaine hobbled his way toward the entrance of the Mansion, looking remarkably like he had eighty years and wasn't getting younger. Ash padded behind him almost awkwardly, fighting with conflicting emotions of wanting to hold the door open and also challenge him to another battle, and waited until the man had left the building before exiting himself.

Blaine was gone. Typical. Ash sighed, squinting from the sun, and started back towards the main town. His team needed healing, and it might take him a day and a half to reach the city again.

xXx

Ash gathered his belongings, sliding them as neatly as he could into his bag. He had a week before the tournament.

A lot could be done in a week.

xXx

 **And I return.**

 **Sorry for the late chapter. I'm enjoying the experience of a new 1960s house with no sump and a week of rainstorms. My updates will be sporadic for a while as I finish moving and adjusting, but the tournament will come.**

 **The chapter was a bit choppy and not my best work, but I'll try and get back into my groove come the next one. Also, to clear up some confusion, Viper is not an OC but a minor Team Rocket character.**

 **Seriously, thank you, everyone, for 1k followers. This is taking off and I'm really happy about that.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	12. One Step

"Hey there," Ash said, stepping closer. Bulbasaur looked up at him, crimson eyes bright, and growled a greeting. She had grown almost warm recently, which was why Ash was choosing to talk to her now. "How's it going?"

She muttered her reply, scratching at the dirt with her surprisingly long claws. He'd have to get them filed down eventually, or get her a pumice rock to do it herself. She'd probably prefer the second option, given how independent she was.

Ash sighed. His thoughts were getting ahead of him. Wrangling as fierce of a hold as he could, he lowered himself to sit next to her, legs crossed and elbows resting on his knees. She gave him a look, curious, before going back to inspecting the dead piece of magma larch she had been so invested in.

Gale whistled overhead, wings beating powerfully against the ground. Ash had put him on entirely working out with his speed, mainly to adjust to the entire other foot on his wingspan and unlocking the final stages of tailwind. He had been growing ridiculously fast recently. Right now, a young tree was tightly gripped in his talons, having been ripped from the ground by aerial ace and dragged upward. Ash didn't know what to call the attack yet, but it was both good as a move as well as a training exercise. The trees - mainly dried, wilting pines - didn't appreciate it as much.

Rhydon was off in the corner, perfecting implosion. Craters littered the clearing, forcing Ash to find a new one every passing night, but his control was increasing exponentially. He wasn't ready for earthquake yet, but they were getting there, and for every time that Ash watched him use crater or a regular earth power, he could feel the shake in his bones. A ripple spread through the earth at his command, sending a cloud of dust upward to obscure his form.

Pure blue leaked constantly from one side, psychic energy staining the air with a powerful aura. Karma was alternating between gravity, which she had started to get a real handle of, psychic, to boost her natural endurance, and psycho cut, to get it larger and more powerful. Ash wanted her to learn a new move, one not of the psychic typing - he had realized he had been neglecting her there, as seen with Blaine's Houndoom - but didn't want to throw that on her right before the Tournament. But afterward, he'd either give her a TM or start training for signal beam. She had been excited about them, though the mere mention of bug energy made her ears flatten and eyes go dark. Karma had been surprisingly antsy recently, and her growth had received a new spurt. Ash was crossing his fingers for her evolution, but the abra line - besides from the first one - had very few signs before they evolved, and he wouldn't know until it happened.

Scorch released another blast of fire, the flames immediately twisting around to slam into her exposed tail. She had found her release tail easily enough - like Blaine had said, the longest one, directly in the middle - but her control and absorb tail were coming along slower. She was trying for the absorb now, shooting off fire and catching it with each of her tails to test how it reacted differently. It was much different from their normal training sessions, but she seemed to find it interesting, taking each new lesson with gleaming eyes.

Wraith's claws swung through the air, tipped in violent flames. There was an issue with ghost types using physical elemental moves, specifically the gastly line, because their corporeal body was so weak. Any contact with regular flame would pop their ectoplasmic skin, so for each of the punch moves, they harnessed the element with their own ghostly energy, staining it a different color. Wraith's fire was a wild, sparking navy, dripping shadows as much as smoke, and even Scorch avoided his fire punches when they mock battled. Ash had heard rumors that thunder punch might have green electricity, which he wouldn't deny sounded incredible.

Bulbasaur churred, drawing his attention back to her. She looked a bit bemused at his presence, which he wasn't that shocked at. Normally, they walked together whenever he traveled, but they didn't talk for most of it. She explored the greenery around them, seeing the world she had never had the chance to before, and held conversations with Wraith from Ash's shadow. But other than that, she was content to just exist, and he didn't bother her.

"I've been thinking," he started with. "My team's getting strong, and they can all defend themselves if anything happens. But I'm worried about you. If anything happens, I want you to be able to protect yourself."

Bulbasaur narrowed her eyes, but she didn't outright reject the idea. She growled at him to continue.

"Just a few training sessions every now and then," he said, glancing around the clearing before coming back to her. "No battling, but basic dodging, attacking, and maybe a combo or two." A grin crossed his face. "You're pretty good at those."

She growled at the compliment, a pleased expression crossing her face before her eyes narrowed further. Bulbasaur looked around the clearing, watching Wraith slice at the air with blue fire and Karma create a barrage of psycho cuts to slam into a boulder. He couldn't see what she was thinking but he could imagine. Though she hadn't shown many signs of it, the Jobane Storage Base had left its clawed marks over her. Her bulb twitched, gaze snicking upward to watch Gale streak overhead. After a moment, she looked up at Ash and nodded her head, standing up fully.

He grinned back at her, rising to his feet. She matched him, flexing her legs and sheathing her claws partially. Ash could see the tip of her burned vine from the tip, but she retracted it soon enough. He started walking for one edge of the clearing and, after a pause, she followed him.

Wraith glanced over, but Ash had already briefed him to ask his opinion on how to ask Bulbasaur, and he soon returned to his training. Rhydon rumbled, another ripple jolting over the earth. Bulbasaur watched them all, as was her due, as she followed Ash.

Tide perked up as Ash crossed over to him, barking cheerfully even as he continued blasting the sky with as many aurora beams as he could. He was working on exercising his endurance for potentially increasing his water stores, though it was slow going. Bulbasaur snarled at the hideously low temperature, but she walked up to Tide fearlessly. He barked at her, whiskers twitching.

"We're going to be doing some light training with Bulbasaur, okay?" Tide barked an answer, shaking off the light dusting of ice over his frame. He waited patiently for his trainer to explain.

"Bulbasaur is going to work on dodging, as well as hitting you with sleep powder. You're going to fire water guns at her, not full strength, and try to keep her away."

She growled, thinking it over for a few seconds before nodding her head. While the water guns would barely bruise her, they would be good at pushing her back and stopping her forward progress. Ash's mind flew back to his first real teamed training effort, Gale trying to stop Rhydon from reaching the line carved into the dirt. A smile over his face, he shuffled Tide back so that they were about fifteen feet apart. Bulbasaur released her vines, looking around for any structures to latch them onto if needed.

Ash clarified the rules and stepped back. Tide started things off, blasting three or four water guns in quick succession. Bulbasaur dropped to her stomach, lashing one vine forward to curl around an exposed root. An instant before the water hit, she pulled it taut and shot away from the danger, barely a green blur. Tide blinked, looking over, but his eyes narrowed the next second. Bulbasaur released a cloud of blue-white powder, large and thick enough to hide things behind it, and sent it drifting rather menacingly toward the sealeo. He barked, spitting water guns to weigh down the powder and send it to the ground. Bulbasaur retracted her vines and took off, her small bulk allowing her to be much more nimble as she ran around the ice type. Tide's eyes lit up and he thoroughly soaked the ground, converting the dirt to mud in a wide circle around him. Bulbasaur growled as she nearly slipped but caught herself, slowing to a walk as she pulled out her vines again. Her crimson eyes flashed with thought.

It was a good pairing, and Ash smiled as he watched the two mock-battle. Tide wouldn't do anything to hurt her - while he loved battling more than the next pokemon, he had a soft spot for Bulbasaur. Some sort of instincts, Ash guessed. In the wild, Tide would have been working full time in order to evolve so that he could gather himself a pod, maybe dying in the process. But no matter how much he wanted that, he would never hurt a spheal, and instead care for it until it was old enough to be let out alone. Though he was a trainer's pokemon, those instincts were still there.

Bulbasaur snarled, baring her fangs, and released another cloud of sleep powder. Tide eyed it warily, but it was still far away. He paid his focus to the grass type, releasing a few more blasts of water. She dodged them quickly, baring her fangs in an almost excited manner. It seemed she was taking to these light practice sessions.

Ash walked across the field, heading to his other friend he had been meaning to talk to. The abra line was famed for its teleporting ability. The League used them frequently, but it was known that there were two ways to raise an abra. It could either be raised as a teleporter, in which case it could teleport full adults flawlessly in its base form, though the distance would be little. But it could also be raised as a battler, which was what Ash was doing. Karma would need more time to be able to teleport him, which was what he wanted to focus on. Compared to a teleporter kadabra, she had infinitely more moves, but he couldn't neglect that aspect of her either.

Karma's black eyes flashed toward him as he got closer, ears perking up in curiosity. She squashed her current psychic, letting the energy flow back into her shine. _Yes_?

He smiled at the strange, echoing voice in his head. It was impossible to forget that she wasn't human, though he had heard of mental voices maturing with evolution. Her mustache twitched as he didn't respond.

"Sorry." He collected his thoughts from the random locations they had fled to. "Time to focus on teleportation. Are you ready?"

She hummed, flicking her bushy tail. He accepted that as a yes. "Thirty minutes of you just teleporting back and forth, and then you rest for a bit and try to teleport me? Just to the other side of the clearing, nothing much. That one time in Pallet Town was a fluke, and I want to get this right."

Karma flicked an ear back. _As do I. Traveling grows tedious at times_.

Ash frowned, amusement bringing a grin soon after. "I know for a fact I have never used tedious around you before. Where'd you pick that up?"

 _Learning_.

"Passive mind reading is not normally acceptable," Ash teased. "Even against those you don't like. Just someone random, or who?"

 _Alakazam_. Her voice took on a respectful quality. _He taught me many words when I was recovering_.

Ash frowned. "Professor Oak's?" At the flick of her ears, his frown deepened. "What other alakazam have you interacted with?"

 _One, during healing. After the Monster. He came with the Champion_.

After Charizard, then. Ash shrugged, skillfully ignoring the other memories associated with that particular event. Lance had mentioned he had checked up on Ash's pokemon, mentioning Karma in particular. His chest swelled. Any time he thought of the Indigo Champion, it was impossible for him not to burn with pride at having met the legend.

Karma flashed her eyes to get his attention. _The Watcher approaches_. Ash frowned, looking around, and caught sight of Bulbasaur padding over. Karma's names were strange at times, though he adjusted quickly. Some made sense, like Rhydon's Leader or Wraith's Blemish, but Watcher was one of the strangest ones. He personally liked Witchfox for Scorch - it was fitting.

Tide was asleep in the corner, a small cloud of sleep powder collected over his head. He looked peaceful. Bulbasaur's eyes flashed with pride, and she churred when he congratulated her.

"You can go back to doing whatever you want," he said, a grin over his face. "We'll do this again soon, alright?" She nodded her agreement, pulling her vines back into her bulb and walking off. There were a few light bruises over her side, but it was nothing some sunlight couldn't fix.

"Start working on teleporting," Ash said to Karma, who nodded in return. With a thundering _crack_ , she disappeared from view.

He walked over to Tide, pulling out his pokeball as he did so. The sealeo disappeared in a mist of scarlet, letting the rest of the sleep powder to drift to the ground. Ash released him a safe distance from the powder, taking a seat next to the ice type's face.

It only took a few minutes for him to stir back to attention. The sleep powder hadn't been at its strongest because of Bulbasaur's low battling ability and the fact she had used it so many times in a row, her supply of it growing low, so he recovered quickly. Tide's black eyes blinked open, staring around before fixing on Ash. With a low, annoyed bark, he pulled himself up, flippers splayed over the ground.

"Hey, bud," Ash said, reaching out to stroke the top of his head. Immediately, a chill ran through his arm, but he ignored in favor of smoothing over the mussed fur. Tide made a chuffing noise in his throat, twitching his whiskers. His gaze slid over to Bulbasaur, who was stretched out in the sun, bulb glowing softly as she absorbed the yellow light. "How was it?"

He barked his side of the story, Ash understanding the gist of it. There was a pause but then the sealeo slapped his flippers against the ground, grumbling. Ash frowned before he understood. "You don't like reining in your strength," he guessed. Tide grunted, looking away.

The sealeo was a midstage pokemon, meaning he was full of hormones both from his previous evolution and preparing for his next. It showed itself in different ways across pokemon - Karma showed remarkably little of it, Wraith had his vicious days, and Rhydon grew pissed at anything that threatened his herd - and for Tide, it showed itself in an almost teenager-like fashion, giving him willpower few could beat and the stubbornness to match. He was strong and bulky enough to back up his threats, and Ash hadn't given him enough opportunities to express that. For him, reducing his power must have been an insult, though Ash couldn't quite fathom _why_. It didn't matter, though - he'd work with him and Bulbasaur, see if they could come to an agreement about strength levels. He tapped Tide on the head again, listening to the sealeo's proud bark. It-

 _Ash!_

He jerked to attention, mental stain clawing his eyes in the right direction. Karma appeared in the middle of the clearing with a _crack_ like shattering steel, black eyes shut yet burning with strange, blue-white power. He shot to his feet and ran for her, heart pounding along a staccato beat. Her shine switched from its active and dormant form between seconds, molten silver pumping out waves of cold.

 _There is- cannot- let- show you_ , she gasped, voice cracking and popping. Her inner ears started glowing that same blued white, bleeding across the clearing. Karma's eyes snapped open, burning so bright he couldn't see her pupils, and her claws stabbed him directly above his eyes.

 _Great, enormous blue and white. It shriekroarscreamed, Voice a thousand at once, and turned. He was frozen, only able to see that blue, that white, that purple. There was no feature he knew. Attacks rained from the heavens, but they did nothing. Hundreds died in a second. The leader directed more and they were useless. The blue-white made another Sound, fierce and soft and loud and quiet, and turned to him. Red black was on the walls, a letter. Its crest burned a deep purple-blue. Below that-_

 _Its Eyes, it had no Eyes, there was nothing but empty sockets, they were Bone but they were Eyes and it was wrong and he was Touched but he couldn't look away-_

 _He felt his heart stop, as if by an errant thought-_

Ash opened his eyes on the ground. Something thick and red trickled over his face, smelling sharply of copper. Blood.

With a groan, he tried to push himself into a sitting position, but there was a weight on his chest. He swatted at the red over his eyes, managing to get enough off in order to see Rhydon's claws poking at his chest very cautiously. "Rhydon?"

The ground type let out a soft croon, scarlet eyes bright and concerned. He helped Ash sit up, horn spinning randomly, and forced himself into a matching position in order to stare Ash in the eyes easier. He rumbled a question.

"I'm fine." A bolt of pain hit his head, full of the same white-blue energy. "I think," he amended. "I- Karma, what was that?"

The kadabra was floating off to one side, shine around her neck and ears pinned to her skull. Red dripped from her claws - his blood, he realized - and her expression was pure guilt.

Rhydon looked visibly torn - Karma had hurt Ash, but she was also part of his herd, and she seemed to have apologized already. Scorch decided to take charge, barking sharply. The ground type looked at her, and she pointed with one of her tails at Ash. Rhydon didn't need more convincing to focus on his trainer, letting his second in command deal with other issues. Scorch gave Karma a look. The kadabra drifted closer, glowing her regular blue once again. Ash glanced at her again - despite the emotion in her black eyes and fervent twitching of her tail, she looked to be fine. "Are you okay?"

 _I am fine_ , she answered, but her voice popped and snapped its syllables short. One of her ears twitched in frustration.

Ash frowned, reaching up. The blood had started to congelate, revealing two holes in the center of his forehead, though they weren't deep. He could feel a pounding from the stain in his mind, something fierce that even Wraith's chill couldn't combat, though it did a solid effort. He mentally reached for it, wanting the cold opposed to the unnatural heat he was feeling as the energy left him.

Wraith floated down from where he had been, claws twitching almost nervously. He got closer, before slowly breathing out a puff of ghostly energy over Ash's form. He sighed happily, feeling the heat of his headache go away. Okay. It had been some sort of powerful psychic connection, though how it had been so powerful to have reached Ash through Karma was worrying. He looked back to Karma. "What was that?"

 _I do not know_ , she said back, mustache twitching. _A projection, of sorts, of a dying psychic human. He gave the world his last few seconds alive in his fear. I do not know what he died of, or what those_ \- her voice spluttered off, the long sentences making their connection weak and her power level still fluctuating. She actually hissed, the sound grating, before looking back at him.

"What those eyes were," Ash finished, frowning. Even though he had only experienced it secondhand, there had been an intense feeling of _wrongness_ , looking at the empty sockets of Bone. He didn't understand. "Is it still there? The trace."

Karma's eyes flashed, reaching out. Wraith hissed as her influence touched him, his gases thickening for protection, but she continued outward. Her eyes stayed the same blue. No white touched her. After a moment, she shook her head.

Ash frowned. "Any idea where it came from?"

 _Disguised_ , she said with a dark tint to her voice. _It came from everywhere and nowhere. Something was guiding it even as it escaped, and then contained it once it had finished its message_.

A dying psychic had sent out a message, his last seconds in the world, and something had tried to stop him. It hadn't succeeded, but it was able to disguise where it had come from, as well as contain it afterward. He didn't know how powerful of a psychic it'd have to be for both sides of the exchange.

"Did it reach anyone else?" Ash asked, brows lowering. "Can you sense any other psychics on the island reacting?"

 _Most are asleep_ , she answered, voice twisting as she spoke on a thread of connection. _A few are confused. I cannot speak with them. There is a buffer_. Her psionic bubble deflated as she finished, their conversation coming to a halt with her current lack of power.

Ash sighed, pushing himself up to his feet. Rhydon rose with him, claws resting on his shoulder. He sighed again as he looked down - several bloodstains were over his shirt. It had been time to get a new one, anyway.

"We'll worry about it later," he decided, head still pounding sluggishly. "Karma, you don't have the power to search it out now, and you said others sensed it. Wraith, are there ghosts on the island?"

The haunter hissed and nodded. Judging by the dark glare in his bloody eyes, one had encroached on his territory and promptly failed. Ash remembered waking up once to a misdreavus being attacked by Wraith for attempting to sneak up on his team. There were times he was very glad Wraith kept watch every night.

"Any powerful enough to kill a psychic?" Wraith's fangs glittered into a frown, hands rising and falling in his version of a shrug. "Strong enough, but not angry?" A flaring of his spines. "Okay. So it's not a ghost." Ash frowned, thinking as fast as he could despite the pain still present in his skull.

"We're going to look for it tomorrow. As long as we can get some rest before the Tournament, we can find whatever it is." He wouldn't rush things again. That had messed him up, and his team, and he didn't want to do anything like that again. It wasn't worth it. His chest tightened at the memory of Rhydon's broken chest.

Rhydon rumbled, but he agreed quickly and so did the others. Tide blasted Ash with a pattering of icy mist, spraying the blood off of his face. He thanked him, rubbing the water out of his eyes, though it didn't do much good.

Karma still floated near the edge of the clearing, ears twitching constantly and eyes flashing randomly. Her claws were spotless once again, though she still sent him a steady stream of yellow-purple as an apology until he forced her to stop.

Sleep that night, however, came slowly. There was something still in his mind, separate from the stain and the shadow, that clawed its presence known and refused to leave. Ash grimaced at the stars, dreams filled with white Bone.

xXx

Wraith let out a disgruntled hiss in Ash's mind, sinking lower into Ash's shadow to avoid the feet pounding over where he was. His spines were pressed flat, making Ash's silhouette looked jagged and wrong, and it twisted with every passing second. He was much more uncomfortable with large crowds than any of Ash's other pokemon, hissing at each human that passed overhead.

Ash sped up, moving quickly through the crowds. Vendors called out their wares cheerfully, but he ignored them with the ease of having been here for nearly two weeks, though he did buy a few more articles of clothing before heading over. Though the shirts were expensive, they were also heat resistant, for which he was grateful. He wasn't able to wear them now, but he was fine for the moment. While he wasn't visible, Wraith's natural aura dropped the temperature around him by a few degrees, for which Ash was grateful for two reasons. One, because of the ridiculous heat of the island, and two, for the berth the tourists gave him unconsciously. It was wonderfully pleasant.

Though he did get strange looks. The two scabs on his forehead were impossible to ignore, which probably explained most of the curious eyes sent his way. Karma's claws, while not sharp, were large.

The crowds were larger than normal, swollen beneath the promises of the Cinnabar Tournament, and Ash could see multiple pokemon trotting easily around the crowds. Growlithe, attached to heavy-duty leashes, yapped to each other as their owners marched them through the streets. A skarmory let out a piercing, shrieking cry as it swooped overhead, tracking its trainer with one beady eye. From the rooftops of the building, Ash could see a pack of meowth racing over the shingles, sun flashing off their golden coins.

No one seemed to be disturbed by anything last night. The few psychic pokemon he had seen looked their regular blankness, though he had actually seen a hypno buy berries for its trainer using a psychically held bundle of cash. He idly wondered whether he could have Karma go shopping for him. That would be incredibly useful and, quite frankly, really cool.

Wraith hissed again as another tourist's foot stomped over his eyes and disappeared further into the dark. With this amount of people, he wasn't able to use his sixth sense to reach out for whatever energy had been able to kill the psychic. Karma would have been a better contender for finding it, but the energy that had surged through her had drained her, tearing away her own energy as it spread its message over the land. She was going to spend the entire day and most of the next sleeping in her pokeball, barely able to inflate her psionic bubble. So he had chosen his other Trio pokemon to try and find it. Nothing had come up so far. Wraith's sixth sense had told him that the energy had fled, leaving no trails behind, and the confused Trio pokemon of the island had stopped sending out confused auras, hiding away as they normally did.

It was beyond a dead end. Ash didn't even have anything to follow. Wraith was growing more and more frustrated, the air just barely _tinged_ with blue-white, enough so that he could taste the strange energy without any hint of where it had come from. The ghost snarled, a tangible shake in Ash's bones, and only Ash jerking his mental will against the shadow in his mind got him to stop.

"It's been eight hours," Ash muttered, pushing past the elbow that did its best to slam into his side as the tourist tried to reach a street food vendor. "Have you found anything?"

Wraith hissed, shadow rising to pull up a short memory of Ash denying something. He frowned, brushing his hair back. Nothing. The memory faded quickly, prickling with the grey of ghostly energy, and slipped back into the forgotten places of all his other memories. "What do you want to do?"

Wraith visibly sagged, Ash's shadow fading into something that almost looked normal. He surged back after a moment, covering any weaknesses he had unwillingly shown. The haunter stared upward, bloody eyes sliding like wax across the ground.

A low, mournful horn echoed over the city. Ash jerked, looking up. Wraith hissed, reaching upward, and jabbed with one claw toward the harbor. Ash grinned at that slight positive reaction even as he reached out to the shadow in his mind. "The ship," he said, and Wraith hummed. "Maybe there's something on it?"

The haunter hissed, tilting his hands down in a nod. Ash nodded back, casting a glance over the crowd. Most people had changed their course and headed toward the dock. At a nudge from Wraith, Ash followed the streams of people. The horn blasted again, closer, and the voices of the crowd rose to match it.

With him not having to fight the crowd nearly as much, it took him a much reduced time to find his way to the harbor. Ridding himself of the urge to have Gale carry him to the end, he shoved his way the last few feet and emerged onto the wooden dock, staring out at the enormous ship moving steadily forward.

It looked like someone had taken Saffron City, the writhing mass of silver and steel, and tossed it in the water. The Royal Unova was bigger than even the SS Anne, a ferry designed for anything and everything a traveler could want. The captain pulled the horn again, prompting a cheer from the dock.

Members of the Cinnabar Police Force appeared, dragging coils of yellow rope with them. The tourists begrudgingly moved backward, letting the officers section off a large enough area to let those on the ferry off.

Ash watched carefully, and he could feel Wraith leave his shadow, going incorporeal in order to avoid the crowds but give him a view of the ship. A chill swept over his neck and he could see several of the people in front of him flinch from the cold.

With the dull roar of a thousand people talking, people started filing off the ship. They were safe, untouched, all chatting excitedly about their trip and what would come next. Nothing had happened to them. Ash's hand fell to his sixth pokeball, feeling the chill from Tide's natural presence, and forcibly remembered the circumstances that he had captured the sealeo in.

"Come on, Wraith," he said tiredly. "Let's go."

The Pokemon Center was on the opposite side of town, but with most everyone on the dock, he was able to get through it without too much suffering. Wraith sunk back into Ash's shadow, avoiding the sun, and he was both quieter and angrier than normal. Ash didn't know how to calm him down, the ghost hissing with every perceived offense either by the uncaring sun or unknowing tourists, and tried to get there as fast as he could.

Nurse Joy gave him an exhausted smile as the line cleared enough for him to talk to her, accepting his greeting wanly. He'd give her his pokemon tonight, as he wanted a little more time to talk strategies with them, but he did have a few questions. "Hey, Nurse Joy. My name is Ash Ketchum, and I signed up for the Tournament about a week and a half ago. I'm still in, right?"

Her gaze flicked over to her computer screen, where the list was apparently already pulled up. A moment of scrolling and she nodded. "You are in, Mr. Ketchum. It begins tomorrow at nine, but try to arrive at eight thirty in order to have your picture taken and identification scanned. By the current number of people signed up, it should take anywhere from two to three days."

"You're also going to have to stay in the Pokemon Center for the Tournament," she warned. Ash frowned, but she steamrolled past his question and answered it first. "Accountability, makes sure you have a trainer license as well as that you're getting proper healing from your pokemon. I don't make the rules. Now, we don't have any open rooms, but because you left me your application so early on, I was able to reserve one half of a two person room. You'll be rooming with Eli Vide in room 124. Here's your key."

Judging by Nurse Joy's no-nonsense voice, she had obviously encountered pushback already from other trainers and was in no mood to take more of it. Ash thanked her for the key before pausing. "Did anything happen last night?"

She frowned for a moment before it seemed to hit her. "Ah, the strange psychic power?" At Ash's nod, she continued. "It appeared to have come from the Seafoam Islands, or somewhere close to it, and was investigated. A psychic from Sabrina's school, one of Professor Oak's sponsored trainers actually, was discovered to have been attacked by a cloud of gastly. He didn't make it, but the gastly have been captured for closer examination." Her voice was dull, as if she'd given that explanation many times before.

Ash thanked her again before leaving, heading for the back of the Pokemon Center. He found his room soon enough, opening the door with his key with only a little difficulty. The other trainer - Eli, he remembered - wasn't there, but there was a bag of stuff on one of the two beds. The arrangement wasn't bad - one bed on each side, a bathroom door down the middle - and it was larger than the standard Pokemon Center room. Ash dumped his belongings on the other bed and left, hooking the room key to his belt. He had a little sunlight left to burn, and he didn't want to do it in his room. Maybe Wraith would calm down, now that he had an answer.

xXx

Eli was there when Ash returned. He was tall, with a long black tail and a blue gaze that narrowed as soon as it fell across his roommate. Ash tried for a grin, his own gaze drawn to the pokemon sitting on the trainer's shoulder. A pale blue rodent with random bursts of electricity sparking off its form. Pachirisu, electric type.

"Hey," Ash offered. "I'm Ash Ketchum. Eli, right?"

"Yeah." His voice was rough. "You here for the Tournament?"

Ash nodded his head as an answer.

Both of them stared at each other for a moment longer before breaking eye contact. Ash moved his bag to the floor, keeping it at the foot of his bed, and busied himself getting ready for sleep. Once he was changed - having done so in the bathroom - he laid on top of his bed and pulled out his pokedex.

Eli mirrored him, though Pachirisu was curled up on his stomach. He didn't seem bothered by the random sparks it let out, though he did hold his own pokedex away from the tiny pokemon. Ash was confused for a moment before something he had read online came back to him. Professor Oak had officially released the pokedex about a month ago, selling them at nearly the cost it took to make them, and they were going like wildfire.

Ash laid there for an hour, researching various pokemon, before shutting off his pokedex and going to sleep. He and Eli didn't say a word to each other the entire time past the first exchange. Ash wasn't positive yet, but he was pretty sure he wasn't a fan of shared Pokemon Center rooms.

xXx

The morning dawned early, his and Eli's alarm going off at the same time. Ash made bleary eye contact with his roommate, who returned it with a tired nod, and started getting ready.

It was strange, not having his team. He had wanted them to be fully healed, which meant a full night in Nurse Joy's care, but he had to catch himself from kicking underneath the bed in order to get Wraith out of his watchful shadow, as well as actually having to wear a blanket instead of going with Scorch's heat.

Eli seemed to rely entirely on Pachirisu to wake him up. He managed to shut off his pokedex alarm without looking and seemed quite ready to fall back asleep, but the electric type merrily jumped off of his chest, extended its long, fuzzy tail, and zapped him cheerfully. It took two more but by the time his long black hair was sticking out in all directions, he was awake and moving around.

They left together, more for the fact of knowing where they were going, and made their way to the main room of the Pokemon Center. Eli went for food while Ash headed for the line in front of Nurse Joy's desk - they had woken up early enough to avoid the majority of who had to be here.

Collecting all of his pokeballs, as well as directions to the arena and a small, red-yellow sticker he was told to stick to the bottom of his shirt, Ash snagged a random packed breakfast from the food court and headed out. Though it was only seven, he wanted to scope out the battlefield to get a feel for the thing.

It was past the Volcano Gym, up on the edge of the volcano without actually going near the heat. The arena was wide and carved out of the stone, made of brick. A member of the police force saw the sticker on his shirt and sent him through a much smaller entrance than the one a steady line of people filed through.

The waiting room was surprisingly pleasant. Complimentary drinks were cooling in a compact fridge, and there were large couches and chairs lining the walls. Ash chose one near the door, pulling out his pokedex and running his fingers over his pokeballs. He didn't want to reveal his battling pokemon, but Bulbasaur was happy enough to be released. She tucked herself next to his chair, content to watch the other trainers filter in. After a few minutes, she snuck a vine through the armrest of his chair and stole his bottled water for herself. He didn't mind. Much.

By the time it was eight thirty, the room was almost completely full. He guessed a little less than forty, though he couldn't tell for certain. Most trainers didn't want to pay the admittedly steep competition price, and that left only those who were completely invested in winning. Bulbasaur stayed hidden by his side, not wanting the attention her species attracted, but they both watched the pokemon that entered alongside their trainers. There was an even mix of Kanto and Johtoese pokemon, though a surprisingly high amount of Unovan pokemon. He knew that the cruise ship that had brought the organizers of the Tournament had come from Unova, but it hadn't quite connected he'd probably be fighting a fair amount of Unovan pokemon. He watched as a girl with black and red-dyed hair walked past, a strange, wobbling blue pokemon on her heels. Some sort of psychic type, he knew, but he couldn't recognize it. The black markings on its head flashed softly.

Ash recalled Bulbasaur with a whispered apology when a woman stood at the front of the room, calling for them all to get into single-file lines. They went down it, scanning Trainer IDs, as well as snapping quick photos of everyone's face. Ash didn't know whether he was supposed to smile or not and settled for something in between, though it probably looked awkward and uncomfortable.

Which he was. Good to know he was staying true to himself.

Once that was done, the woman disappeared through the back door in the room. After a moment of confused muttering from the trainers, the door reopened and they were ushered through, directly onto the battler's dock. By taking a narrow path, all of the trainers were herded onto the battlefield itself.

It was made almost entirely of dirt, though there were several small ponds dotting the surface for water types. Trying to seem professional, Ash followed the ridiculously tall blond man in front of him as they marched out in a line. Once they reached the sweet spot, the woman stopped them again before disappearing up another hallway.

There were people. Ash hadn't noticed them at first, but he had heard them, and now he could see them. Not that there was much to see. It was just a blur of hands and faces, a cacophony of voices raining down, and what he guessed was mild psychic barriers around the battlefield in order to protect the battling pokemon from being distracted. He knew the Indigo Conference had a similar feature, in order to let the pokemon focus on their trainer instead of just hearing the audience. It didn't completely silence them, but it was substantially quieter than it should have been.

The woman appeared in one of the challenger's positions, and several spotlights glittered over her form. Her face, picked up by a camera, appeared on the enormous screen above the battlefield. She was pretty, lips outlined in red and eyes smoked at the corner. A grin curled her features before she started announcing.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Cinnabar Tournament!" She said, voice thick in an Unovan accent. A howl rose to meet her words. Everyone in the audience lent their voices to scream enthusiasm.

"We won't keep you from your battles long, but here are some basic announcements to get everyone ready." Her eyes walked up the line of trainers. Ash tried to straighten his shoulders as much as he could. "First, of course, is the prizes."

This time, the trainers started the cheering, and Ash joined them. His heart was pumping like nothing could stop it, bringing heat to his fingers and making him full of energy.

"Fourth and third place with both receive three thousand dollars. Second place will win five thousand dollars and five great balls, straight from the Pokeball Factory at Silph Co! And first prize…" she held her silence for a second, watching the audience scream, before answering. "will be a prize of ten thousand dollars and a new teammate!"

She held up a pure white sphere, the premier ball reflecting like a sun in the light. The camera zoomed in on it, letting the audience see the pristine surface. Everyone roared their approval.

Ash yelled alongside them, a grin spreading across his face. Bulbasaur was plenty settled on his team, and no tournament of this size would hand out common pokemon. He didn't know what it would be, but he had a few wishes. An electric type, to cover the gaping hole in his current team, or a dragon, which would be incredible. The woman turned her gaze back to the trainers, who shut up from her brown eyes.

"I won't be revealing the pokemon until the Tournament is over," she said, a purr in her voice. "What I will say is that this pokemon has been both trained and exposed to TMs, so no matter your skill level, it will be able to catch up. And this pokemon is quite rare and difficult to catch." The crowds shouted again. The woman waited, the smile leaving her face until something soft remained.

"There's another reason we're having this tournament," she said somberly. The crowd quieted, if somewhat. "As many of you know, a member of Indigo's Elite Four, Will, died. His funeral was two weeks ago, and only open to close friends and family." She closed her eyes and splayed her fingers downward in the universal symbol for _luck below_. Ash, along with many in the crowd, mirrored her. The cheers were gone.

"But in just three weeks, the position is going to be filled by Indigo's very own Koga Duka!" Her voice roared. "So battle today, not only for Will, but for the new man stepping up to fill his place in making Indigo just as strong!"

Ash didn't cheer alongside the others, though his ears rang and his heart skipped a beat by the bellow of the crowd. Will had been dead a month. Though he had seen the different memorial services, had seen the posters and signs and shrines, it was different to hear about him being replaced. His heart clenched.

Koga was a strong fighter, and from what he had heard and seen, a good, if gruff, man. He wouldn't be quite the exotic, flamboyant personality that Will was, but he would be the strength the Elite Four needed. Ash guessed he'd work well with Bruno, actually. They seemed to have similar personalities. But it was impossible to ignore. On his journey, he could leave everything behind, but society brought back the pain of having an Elite Four killed less than a hundred miles from where he had been sleeping. His throat let out his breath with narrow claws.

The woman turned back to them. "The first matches, which are one vs one, will begin in fifteen minutes! Trainers, please exit the battlefield and wait for your name to be called."

Ash left the field the same way they had come to the screams of the audience. Though he felt immense pressure from the crowd and a pang of sadness from the talk of Will, there was no denying the excitement racing alongside his blood.

He was winning that pokemon.

They got back to the waiting room, and told that they had to be in this room within three battles of their time, otherwise they would be forfeited. The first two contestants - Jonathan King and Ray Lalond - exited to their respective positions. Ash claimed a couch close to the door. He was the seventh challenge, and he was going to use that time to study any pokemon he saw in the room.

xXx

Ash stood on his dock, around ten feet from the base of the battlefield. Bulbasaur was recalled, and he kept dancing the tips of his fingers over his pokeballs, feeling the heat from Scorch's and the chill from Tide. It gave him a surprising amount of confidence.

Across the field, nearly a hundred feet away, there was a boy who looked simultaneously excited and nervous. He had dark skin, black hair, and was surprisingly fit. He fiddled with his own pokeball, flashing Ash a grin when he noticed him watching. Ash returned it before looking back at the field. A pond was close enough to him to be useful, and there was a good flat area between both sides.

"And, on one side, we have Ash Ketchum. On the other, Mark Evens!" The woman - announcer - said, her accent still pronounced. "A one vs one to determine who gets to move on. The coin toss has determined that Ash will release first - let the match begin!"

Ash grimaced at that, tapping along his pokeballs. He didn't have the advantage of having a feel for Mark's skills already, so he'd just have to wing it. Grabbing his sixth pokeball, he pressed the release.

Tide barked proudly, staring around the field toward Mark. Ice rippled out alongside his breath, freezing the dirt in front of him and forcing the air to cool. The crowd roared, though there wasn't anything to actually roar at, and chanted something Ash couldn't hear.

Mark frowned, staring across the field, but he just pressed the release for the pokeball he had had in his hands since the beginning. A massive ball of steel and shell appeared, staring across the field with white-ringed black eyes. Forretress, bug and steel, and entirely defensive. It made a strange groaning noise, the crimson spikes over its body twitching as it braced itself against the dirt floor.

Ash gave himself a second to prepare, mind running with endless strategies. "Brine. Aim for the eyes."

Tide barked his approval and swelled up, throat expanding before firing off a wide stream of water. Forretress didn't flinch - instead, a narrow green barrier unfolded in front of its eyes. The brine splashed harmlessly off it. Protect.

The crowd roared, but Tide didn't look at them, too focused on the battle. He barked again, tail slamming into the ground. His bared fangs caught the harsh light.

"Signal beam, multishot," Mark said. Forretress dropped the protect easily, not looking to be affected by the draining technique at all, and groaned again. From all of the ends of its spikes, wavering green energy beams shot outward. Tide's eyes flashed and he spat out a wave of aurora beams, managing to block two of the four beams. The others hit him on the chest, sending fur flying, but he weighed too much to be pushed back.

Ash frowned at the hits - signal beams, while not powerful, attacked both the physical and mental state of its opponent - and gave his own commands. "Aurora beam, keep aiming for its eyes. Block its attacks with water guns." It was too defensive to use hail - it weighed too much to be blown around, and the ice wouldn't do too much to its powerful shell. Iron tail wasn't perfected well enough to use, either.

Tide barked, spitting out a jet of water to block a flashing ball of steel energy. It redirected it enough that it exploded a little to his side, carving a crater into the ground. Tide didn't care, immediately firing off his own attack.

Forretress blocked the first two with protect but merely curled up for the others, hiding its sensitive insides and letting the cold spread over its entire body. Tide barked at the offense, moving closer while Forretress stayed closed. Ash decided to take the opportunity.

"Get closer, aqua tail and body slam." Forretress seemed to be a distance fighter, and he guessed it didn't have any close-range ability beyond the incredibly thick armor. Tide spat out a stream of powder snow, sliding easily over the dirt.

Mark looked annoyed at the change, but there was still a grin on his face, one that Ash didn't like. He was planning something "Field ruin!" He commanded, an air of excitement around him.

Ash frowned when Forretress didn't immediately move, though its black eyes appeared from beneath its shell again. "Stay back," he warned. "Prepare for aqua tail."

Forretress groaned, a high pitched tone, and began to glow. Again, its spikes started to flash green, and it released another wave of signal beams. Tide barked, spitting more powder snow and sliding out of the way. But before he had even stopped, Forretress pulled its embedded spikes from the ground and started spinning. In seconds, individual features were invisible beyond a grey blur. Tide barked angrily and avoided another blast of signal beams, only to have to fall back beneath a tidal wave of blades.

Ash's mind raced as spikes and toxic spikes, maybe even some rock blast thrown in the mix rained over Tide's fleeing form. The sealeo ducked, but the projectiles easily cut through his skin, drawing blood over the cream fur. It was an endless attack, one he could barely see the origin of through the mass of grey and purple. Tide hadn't been poisoned yet, but it was only a matter of time. He bellowed in pain, trying to dodge but being such a large target he wasn't able to.

"The pond!" Ash shouted, and Tide instantly reacted. He aimed his snow trial and dragged himself over the ground peppered with spikes, immediately slipping into the water and disappearing beneath.

Ash frowned, looking over the field. The combination was brilliant - with Forretress' extremely limited mobility, covering the field with intense blasts of spikes and beam attacks prevented an opponent from getting close. Tide stayed beneath the pond, but it was rather shallow, and every now and then, spikes got through the water and hit him. The crowd roared their suggestions at him, but he tried to shove them away. Time to focus. More spikes exploded against the psychic barriers right in front of his face, constantly ruining his train of thought until he wrestled it under control.

He whistled as sharply as he could and saw Tide's head jerk in his direction. Ash slashed his hand up, and the sealeo's head broke the surface of the pond. "Brine, then aurora beam - freeze it!"

Tide fully stuck his front half out of the water, wincing as another signal beam cut across his chest, and spat two quick brines toward the bug type. It was immediately soaked, its rapid spin deteriorating as the ground turned to mud beneath it. Mark grimaced, opening his mouth, when Tide followed the second command.

Aurora beams roared through the air. Forretress barely had time to squeeze its shell closed before the water covering its form froze solid.

The crowd was silent for a moment, watching the mass of ice. Forretress was barely visible inside it, a mass of grey lost in the clear blue-white. Ash would have to buy Tide ice beam soon - it was much more exhausting to freeze his enemies by first having to soak them and then use aurora beam.

When it became clear that the bug type wasn't emerging, Mark recalled it with a sheepish smile, scratching the back of his neck. "Good battle," he called across. Ash shot him a grin in return, not quite trusting his voice with the surge of adrenaline racing through his body. Mark whispered something to his pokeball, looking around at the audience.

"And the victory goes to Ketchum!" The woman cheered, the crowd chanting along. Ash focused on Tide. The sealeo looked annoyed with how much punishment the field ruin had given him, but he looked up at Ash and proudly barked.

They were moving on to the next round.

Ash grinned nervously, watching the crowd scream at him. Though it could have been anything, from congratulations to strategies, it still felt like they were all judging him. He rubbed the back of his neck, recalled his pokemon, and not-quite fled back into the safety of the waiting room.

xXx

The next battle took annoyingly little time to come around.

Ash swore he had only just left the battlefield to other trainers congratulating him, having handed Tide over to Nurse Joy, when he was being called out again. The battlefield had been picked up since the first round of battles, the dirt turned over to expose the unblemished side, but he could see a few electric burns from the previous match. He ran his hands over his pokeballs, staring at his opponent.

Emily Archer was short, with tame brown hair and matching eyes. She had a black headband with a white x in her hair and an upturned nose, but she had greeted the audience pleasantly enough. Six pokeballs, all different types, gleamed from around her belt. Another Unovan native, judging by the accent she had greeted him with. Eli had seen her first battle, where she had used a mandibuzz like a slow but bulky meteor that crushed her opponent - a raticate - against the battlefield, and had agreed to tell Ash the details. She handled it expertly, and he guessed she had at least one other flying type on her team. It was a two v two, and he was ready to go.

The woman made a show of checking the coin she had flipped, a grin curving across her lips. "And Archer tosses first!" The crowd roared, though Ash guessed they would have done so either way.

Emily frowned, running her fingers over her pokeballs, and clicked the release on one. With a dull squawk, a male unfezant appeared on the field. Slightly shorter than Gale, but with an impressive wingspan and bright plumage. It slashed its head downward, forcing its headdress to dance through the air. Ash didn't quite understand the point of it - it looked ridiculous - and the unfezant seemed bit unused to it, but he shoved it from his mind.

Tide was still tired from his last fight, and wouldn't be ready for any more until tomorrow. The flying type looked fast - both from reading the pokedex entry and watching it move its wings, he guessed it would be ridiculously more than he was expecting. It could pepper Scorch with distance attacks, and the same was true for Rhydon. He needed someone that could keep up with it on its own territory.

Gale let out a furious shriek when he was released, crest flaring and wings thrumming with flying type energy. The crowd roared its approval and Ash saw Emily's eyes flash with interest, staring over his bulky form and thick feathers.

Without any commands from either of them, they both took to the air. Gale, with his enormous wingspan, couldn't hover easily but Unfezant was able to, amber eyes glaring across the field. Emily took the first move. "Razor wind."

Unfezant shrieked, blue energy covering its wings, and released it in a powerful blast of wind. Gale took offense to another pokemon using his beloved egg move and tucked in his wings, diving under the attack so low his talons skimmed the ground. Unfezant cut it off, tracking the fearow with its wings still glowing. They danced around each other, circling slowly, but seemed to only be testing each other. Unfezant didn't want to get close, but there was a nasty look in its eyes.

With a squawk, its wings glowing, Unfezant squawked and started throwing blades of energy. Gale shrieked as one cut across his chest before he could react, spiraling into a dive to avoid the rest. Unfezant adjusted its position and continued using air slash, the blue wind slicing through the air. The fearow activated agility with a shriek and took off.

Emily settled on his elbows, a grin over her face as she watched her pokemon raze the air with endless blades. Gale was just barely fast enough with agility - Ash cursed and wished he had mastered tailwind - but his speed wouldn't last forever. It was infuriatingly similar to Forretress, but this time, he had a strategy to avoid it. Placing two fingers beneath his tongue, Ash drew in a breath and whistled a simple three note tune as high-pitched as he could.

When Gale flew, especially with agility, he was going far too fast to hear words. So Ash had adapted - whistles reached his keen ears, and their meaning was disguised from his opponent. With an answering shriek, Gale glowed red, and flames spilled from behind him.

Unfezant squawked, cutting off air slash and snapping its wings down. Here was the speed it was known for - but with the burning skies from heat wave, its range was entirely limited. Emily clenched her fists across from him, but the crowd roared their approval as embers rained from above.

Keeping agility activated to match Unfezant as well as heat wave was draining, but there was smoke trailing from Unfezant's wings and its flight was wobbly. Its ember eyes glowed red-grey - probably using detect, Ash guessed - and it expertly bobbed and wove around the streams of fire, but its area of escape was rapidly shrinking.

By the time Unfezant looked suitably pissed, Ash whistled two high notes. Gale stopped using heat wave, still only a brown blur with agility, and slammed into the unprepared back of Unfezant with steel wing.

The avian shrieked, wings flaring out to catch itself as it fell. Only ten feet from the ground it managed to slow, slamming talon-first into the ground but not breaking anything. Ash frowned - Gale must have missed any vital spots in his attack - but Unfezant shrieked again, joined by Emily's angry commands for attacks. Amber eyes flat under the pain, it took off again, wobbling in midair. The fire from heat wave was dissipating, but embers still popped randomly, patches of red-orange against the blue. Unfezant took advantage of the rising hot air, giving it a more stable platform to rise up to match Gale. The fearow shrieked, crest flared, and startled circling again. His beak flashed as he prepared for pursuit if needed.

Unfezant's wings glowed, quick attack shooting it upward. Pieces of grey down emerged from its wings, much more than seemed physically possible, and covered the air. Gale shrieked as the feather dance fell over him, sticking to his wings and face, but they were so small he couldn't dodge them. In his frustration, Unfezant tucked its wings and dove, thrumming with aerial ace. Ash's furious whistle only gave Gale enough time to look up before he was slammed into.

The fearow shrieked with pain, Unfezant's talons ripping into his chest, and delivered back. Even as they plummeted together, his beak shined and stabbed toward Unfezant's wings. It moved out of the way, shrieking, but Gale's beak managed to spear its headdress.

Unfezant froze. Gale took the brief respite to struggle back into emerging on top, though they still fell. His beak still attached to the avian, he managed to reach forward and wrap his enormous talons around Unfezant's much smaller pair.

Emily screamed commands but Gale took the last few feet they had to flare his wings, jerking the two around until Unfezant was thrashing beneath him. They slammed into the ground with the force of a train.

Ash cheered, brought back to Gale's battle against Gary's Pidgeotto. But this time, he had emerged on top, and there was no chance Unfezant would be able to battle again. A scowl across Emily's face, she recalled her pokemon, forcing Gale to drop the last few feet to the earth as his unwilling perch disappeared. He shrieked at the annoyance but flared his crest, flapping his wings proudly as his talons clawed the earth. The crowd ate it up.

The announcer added her voice to the cheers, the camera flashing away from Gale and appearing on her face. "And Ketchum's powerful fearow takes down Archer's unfezant! What will she release next?"

Emily stared at him, ignoring the announcer. Her fingers brushed along her pokeballs. Her eyes kept going to the sluggishly bleeding slash over Gale's chest, tracing the slump of his wings despite his best attempts to hide it. After a moment, she released her next pokemon, which immediately took to the skies. Gale tracked it with a squawk.

A swoobat - psychic and flying, he thought with a grimace - flapped over the battlefield. Its nose twitched constantly, releasing paled ultrasonic waves. Its eyes were mostly hidden beneath the ruff of fur beneath its neck, but it seemed perfectly aware of where it was, nose glowing softly with odor sleuth.

"Gust," Emily said clearly. Swoobat's enormous ears twitched and it paused for a moment - it didn't seem very smart - before it flew higher into the air. Gale took off to match it, circling a few feet below. He shrieked at the psychic, eyes narrowed.

Swoobat's wings flapped furiously, releasing a widespread gust that was impressively powerful. Gale shrieked as it caught the edge of his primaries, throwing his flight pattern array. He was too large for it to do much, but it gave Swoobat plenty of time to fly off to a safer location and do it again. Its gusts blustered Gale around, bending his primaries backward and ripping pieces of down out.

Ash cursed, watching the weaving dance above. Swoobat, while slower, was small and more nimble. Gale could thunder after it all he wanted, but it would duck neatly under his talons and hit him with another gust to throw him off balance. It was too small for drill peck and aerial ace took too long. Bracing his fingers in his mouth, he whistled two low notes.

Gale snapped to attention, stopping his furious chase of Swoobat with an enraged shriek. Emily frowned, clicking her fingers, and Swoobat had only just turned around to return to her side when an angry razor wind slammed into its side.

It made an odd, buzzing sound furiously, launching a gust at the ground on its way down to push it back up. With a decisive shake of its tail, it sent a shrieking wave of sound toward Gale, who was forced to shoot up to avoid it. Emily caught her pokemon's attention again. "Confusion," she enunciated.

Swoobat's ears started to thrum blue. Gale dimly glowed the same before Sabrina's gym snapped back into his memories, and he activated pursuit with a shriek. Shadows drenched his form and Swoobat flinched, nearly falling, as a minute wave of dark energy crept outward. Emily's eyes flashed with anger. "Air cutter!"

Gale tucked his wings in, crest smoothing over, and kept the black stain of pursuit as he dove. Swoobat barely managed to knock his beak off-kilter with a ribbon of wind before the full force of the fearow slammed it into the psychic barriers. The crowd directly behind it screamed.

The fearow was forced to push off, lest he fall himself, and his talons scrabbled for purchase on empty air. Swoobat, even as it fell, listened to Emily's howled command and launched a point-blank confusion onto one of Gale's wings.

He screamed, the wing thrown back and sending him spiraling to the ground. Swoobat disappeared in a flash of red a few feet before it hit the ground, obvious it wouldn't recover, but Gale managed to throw his right wing out, extending his tail to its full length. The result was a wide, looping fall as he adjusted his primaries every few seconds to keep his fall steady. It was like watching a feather twirl its way to the ground, if the feather was an angry, shrieking fearow that weighed nearly a hundred pounds.

Gale touched down, crest sagging. His left wing had a bare patch in the middle, the surrounding feathers smoking slightly from the psychic blast, but he still stared proudly at Ash. He shrieked to the cheering audience as he was recalled, forcing his enormous wingspan out and snapping his beak. Ash grinned and thumbed his pokeball. That had been a great battle. He raised a hand to thank Emily but the trainer was already gone, disappearing through the back door. The screams of the audience grew in strength as the announcer said a few more words in his favor, but he took off before too long. That had been his final battle for today, and he needed a break.

xXx

Eli was already in the room when Ash got back. He raised a hand in greeting, Pachirisu already curled around his shoulder. Ash was able to see the leather clothing he wore in order to resist the electric shocks it released frequently.

"Nice job with the unfezant," Eli said, going back to scrolling through his pokedex.

Ash grinned. "Thanks. You handled that lairon easily; your arcanine is well trained." Eli gave him a quick smile back, and they both went their own way again. He did notice, though, how the trainer's eyes went wide at the sight of Bulbasaur sprawling out on the foot of his bed. To his due, however, he didn't say anything. Pachirisu squeaked at her, head tilted, but it soon ran back to Eli when Bulbasaur merely watched it cautiously.

The night was cold. It was cold in a way that swept through Ash's bones, the heating unit of the Pokemon Center activated with the whine of long unuse. He grimaced, glancing out the narrow window, but nothing was there. He didn't release Scorch because of his roommate, as she was large and hot enough to make things unpleasant if Eli didn't want her, but he curled up with as many blankets as provided and tried to sleep. Bulbasaur crawled under his bed in order to be closer to the vent, but she had thicker skin than him and wasn't as affected.

By the time the next morning came, however, Ash was sweating in his blankets and the AC unit rumbled in its attempts to cool the room back down. He and Eli exchanged confused looks - Cinnabar Island wasn't exactly known for cold spells - but both ignored it. Ash grabbed his hat, jammed it on, and headed for the food court. Another match awaited.

xXx

Not having lost a pokemon in the last round garnered him a bit of attention, and he was one of the first for the next battle. He hadn't fought many double team matches before, and those had been few and far between. His opponent, Lucien Yume, jittered on his side of the dock and didn't remove his hands from his pokeballs. He had short, unkempt brown hair and tanned skin, and from the worn look of his clothing and sharp Hoennese accent, he had been traveling for a few years.

"Ketchum throws first. Begin!" The woman shouted.

Ash frowned - he very much disliked throwing first - but grabbed the team he had prepared for. Both Scorch and Rhydon were uninjured, and Lucien had been using a lot of dark types in his previous battles.

Scorch's tails danced around her form, fire bursting from each of the tips. She leaned back and howled, the sound eery and low, and garnered a powerful cheer from the surrounding crowd. Judging by the incline of her head, she appreciated it. Rhydon rumbled, glaring around with scarlet eyes, but he didn't bother with the audience.

Lucien frowned at his opponents, glancing at the audience a bit nervously, but didn't take long to release his own pokemon.

The nuzleaf he had used in his first match let out a strange, warbling cry, jabbing its fists together. Its leaf danced as it tossed its head, catching the wind just enough so that it released a tuneless melody that made Scorch's hackles rise. Rhydon snorted, age-old instincts rising as the grass type stared into his eyes. His horn spun.

Lucien's other pokemon was a massive, hulking mightyena. It immediately flattened itself upon arrival, snarl rippling over the battlefield. Scorch growled back, tails whipping, but she settled for pacing near Rhydon.

Ash was getting a little annoyed at fighting non Indigo pokemon, given as he didn't have any strategies built around them, but he had guesses based off their pokedex entries. Nuzleaf were fast, frustratingly so, and Mightyena were eerily like houndoom. Rhydon would go for the canine, Scorch for the grass type.

"Flash fire, keep extrasensory up, and nail it with fire spin," Ash whispered. Scorch flicked an ear back. He had to raise his voice for Rhydon, but Lucien was distracted by his own commands. "Stone edge, keep Mightyena by you. Shock wave and rock blast. Stomp if it gets close enough."

Rhydon's tail slammed against the ground as an answer, but he didn't have time for anything more. The second Lucien's lips had stopped moving, Nuzleaf had blurred forward, razor leaves emerged flawlessly from its head. Rhydon bellowed in pain as they slashed right through his chest, nearly falling back.

Mightyena cranked open its jaw and fired a barrage of shadow balls at Scorch. She sank into quick attack and dodged them furiously, flash fire flaring to life, but it had only been a distraction technique as it charged for Rhydon.

The ground type bellowed, spinning around to swat at Nuzleaf with his enormous tail. It leaped over it, ducking smoothly into a slide as Rhydon tried to crush it when he finished his turn. It released another barrage of razor leaves, distracting him enough that Mightyena was able to leap up and slam a shadow drenched claw into his face. He roared, flailing his arms in front of him, and managed to catch Mightyena. The dark type growled, digging iced fangs into his dull claws. Rhydon bellowed in pain.

Lucien, while nervous, had an excellent strategy. Rhydon was large and powerful, but slow, and both Lucien's pokemon were small and fast. If they could continue double teaming him, it wouldn't be long until he wasn't able to battle.

Rhydon's eyes flashed blue once, Scorch reaching out in an apology, before a torrent of flames rippled over the ground type. Nuzleaf, having thrown itself forward to rip at his chest, was caught in the fire and shrieked, blurring backward with all the speed it had. Mightyena leapt back as well, lowering itself to the ground and snarling.

Scorch stalked over, tails whipping overhead and fangs bared. Mightyena howled back, hackles stabbing at the sky, but she focused her attention entirely on the grass type in the match. Nuzleaf made a warbling cry, punching at the sky, and ran for her. It was unafraid. Scorch's ears flattened, plumes of fire escaping from her mouth, and blurred into quick attack. She and Nuzleaf were only visible a gold and grey swirl.

Rhydon managed to push himself back up to his feet with a weakened earth power, snapping Mightyena's attention back to him. It snarled, red eyes flat against the dark of its fur, and spat a shadow ball. It seemed it had learned from its furious charge. Rhydon breathed a tongue of flames, exploding the energy a few feet from his face, and roared a challenge. Mightyena answered it furiously.

Nuzleaf's arms began to glow, green energy forming blades over its arms, and it dashed at Scorch with frustrating speed. She howled, blurring into quick charge, but the grass type kept doggedly at her heels. Embers popped and sparked from her burning form but it swatted them away with leaf blade, releasing random razor leaves to direct her run. It couldn't keep up with her two speed increasing moves, but Rhydon's battle was reducing the area she had to run, and it had incredibly keen eyes. Eventually, when the technique grew too draining, she slipped out of it, only to have Nuzleaf dart forward and carve its bladed fists over her back. She howled in pain.

Rhydon lunged away from Mightyena's darkened claws, cracking his tail only a foot away from its fleeing form. It spat another wave of shadow balls, using Rhydon's distraction of neutralizing them with shock wave to circle him quickly and claw at his legs. In response, he slammed his tail into the ground, knocking the dark type over in the unrestrained ripple of earth. It yelped, rolling to the left to avoid Rhydon's fist.

Scorch clawed at Nuzleaf's side until it moved back, burned from her flaming armor. She curled one paw up, an enormous cut leaking scarlet over her golden fur. Nuzleaf let out a warbling cry, shadows crawling up its fists. Scorch turned just to see it charging, black eyes burning-

A rock slammed into its extended nose, throwing its balance off and sending it crashing to the ground. Scorch barked her thanks, springing back for a moment to prepare. Rhydon accepted it with a grunt.

While Nuzleaf was still getting on its feet, she aimed three tails at the ground - release, and the two closest to it - and let out a wave of flames that completely consumed her form. Nuzleaf stopped its charge, leaf whistling, only to narrow its black eyes as three identical ninetales ran out of the fire, immediately starting to circle it. At Lucien's urging, it darted for the closest one, slamming a darkened fist into its side. With a hiss, the ninetales exploded in a cloud of flames. Nuzleaf screamed, falling back.

Bombs, Karma had relayed to him after he asked his fire type. Scorch had made it so that whenever the thin psychic layer shaping them was broken, they burst into flames. Useful, unexpected, and painful.

Nuzleaf glared at the remaining ninetales, clenching its fists with a narrow look in its eyes. It edged backward as they stalked closer, identical snarls on their faces. Even Ash couldn't tell them apart.

Scorch made the move, the two fire types stopping their circle and charging directly for Nuzleaf. It tensed, bracing to run away, when the ninetales that was Scorch leapt easily over its head. The other ran directly into it, exploding into a ball of flames. It cried out, arms thrashing, and snapped Scorch across the face when she went in to attack it.

Rhydon's horn crackled, but it was much less than it had been doing before. Mightyena blurred out of the way as the shock wave splashed harmlessly over the ground, diffusing easily into the dirt. Ash grimaced. His stores were low, and his shock waves hadn't done much. "Stomp!"

He bellowed, following through. Mightyena was forced to run, claws scrabbling at the dirt, as Rhydon lunged for its shadow with one foot raised. If it was hit, there would be bones broken.

Eventually, he saw an opportunity and, using his tail as extra force, jumped forward. His claws just missed Mightyena, slamming into the ground hard enough to create a cloud of dust. He rumbled, stepping back, his scarlet eyes flashing. Mightyena stayed silent, invisible inside the grey-brown.

A shadow ball emerged from the dust and smote Rhydon across the eyes. He bellowed in pain, stumbling back. Grey lightning crackled over his head. Mightyena emerged with all the grace of a beast wronged and leapt, landing on Rhydon's chest. It was enough to push him over, thudding against the ground, but Mightyena just leaned forward and slammed shadowed fangs directly into his exposed throat.

Rhydon _roared_. He was blinded by the ghostly energy and now his throat, where his plates were at their weakest to provide for ease of movement, was under attack. He thrashed, the earth shaking at his touch, but Mightyena avoided his clumsy arms and kept up its attack. Ash cupped his hands over his mouth. "Scorch! Flamethrower!"

Immediately, a wave of fire poured over Rhydon's form. He bellowed in pain as her intense flames softened his plates, but Mightyena was dislodged enough Rhydon could reach up and rip the dark type off. It went flying back, fur smoldering, and clutched one paw to its chest.

With the help of rage, Rhydon reared upward and slammed one foot into the ground, triggering a massive earth power. It raced toward Mightyena without question.

Mightyena howled as the earth buckled and exploded beneath it, jerking its thrashing form into the air. Rhydon immediately moved, tail pushing against the ground to give him more force, and managed to snatch the dark type out of the air as it fell. Without missing a beat, he opened his mouth and let a powerful flamethrower roll over Mightyena.

The canine howled, scratching furiously at its captor. One of its attacks managed to claw underneath Rhydon's plates and he bellowed, cutting off the flamethrower. Mightyena didn't have more than a second before he cocked his arm back and threw all hundred pounds clear across the battlefield.

Scorch directed a blast of fire forward, let Nuzleaf stumble back, and hit the flying Mightyena with nine perfectly timed iron tails.

Everyone, including Ash, winced. Mightyena went flying back without so much as a whimper and hit the ground in a crumpled heap. It didn't move. Lucien recalled it with wide eyes, nervous expression growing over his face. Nuzleaf looked furious at the defeat of its teammate, but when Rhydon charged it to match Scorch, it didn't have time to focus on that.

A steady stream of razor leaves exploded from the leaf on its head, but Scorch caught them with a heat wave before they could reach Rhydon. The ground type lumbered forward, bleeding sluggishly from his throat, and ripped a boulder from the earth. Nuzleaf didn't have more than a second before the focused rock blast slammed directly into its chest.

Scorch blurred forward with quick attack, the bleeding cuts over her chest and face not forgotten. She jerked her release tail forward and bathed the ground with a forceful flamethrower. Nuzleaf, still frozen on the earth, disappeared a second before it hit.

Lucien, replacing his pokeball, rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish expression. Ash could agree. That had been one of the most vicious battles he had been - Nuzleaf and Mightyena were experts as taking any opportunity they needed. Scorch - and Rhydon, really - hadn't been pushed to that limit since Blaine.

Both looked back at him, though Rhydon was hunched over and Scorch was pressing a paw to her chest. Rhydon rumbled as he was recalled, spinning his horn proudly, and Scorch spat a plume of fire before disappearing into scarlet. Their pokeballs didn't immediately go still, but it was clear they were injured.

The announcer shouted her encouragement. "And Ketchum wins again without losing any of his pokemon! Now we must wonder, how far will this rookie go?" She paused to let the crowd scream their answer, before pulling up the list. "Now, we're going to pause for lunch, and then our next competitors are going to be Eli Vide and Kya Sora-"

Ash let out a sigh, disappearing through the back door. Two battles left. He needed to prepare. But there was a grin over his face - Lucien had been strong. The battle had been exhilarating, and the Tournament was promising more just like it.

xXx

Ash walked through the crowd. His hat was tucked low over his face to disguise himself, and he kept all of his pokemon in their pokeballs. A few people gave him strange looks, but most were taking the two hour break needed to fix the battlefield back up to get some food and relax their voices. Arceus knew Ash should have been doing the same, but he had an inkling, and he was going to find out.

He avoided the large food court that had been set out, where most of the people were. The rest were mainly still in their seats, saving the best spots in order to get the best experience. But there had a few - one, really - that had gone up the volcano to sit at a strange, naturally formed crevice clawed out of one side.

It took him nearly thirty minutes to climb all the way up, giving him only another hour to get back in time for the semi-finals. He touched along his empty pokebelt, the blank holes feeling very wrong. Nurse Joy would have the time to numb his friends from their wounds, but it was far from a complete healing. It was better than nothing, though.

When he reached the shallow alcove, he wasn't alone. A ratty old man huddled in his coat near the back, staring with hidden eyes as Ash crossed the crest. Despite the raspy breaths escaping his throat from climbing the volcano, Ash couldn't hold back his grin. "I thought I'd find you'd here."

"And you did," Blaine muttered, but his expression mirrored Ash's. "I see you found her tails. Not bad. And those illusions weren't too shabby." His eyes flashed again, that same blue. "Zen headbutt would be another good one for her. That kadabra of yours could teach her the basics."

Ash nodded, mentally storing that away. He had thought about zen headbutt before, but now that Blaine had recommended it, he'd definitely be giving it more attention. "Any chance you know what the prize pokemon is?" He asked, a bit hopeful.

Blaine grunted. "No. I'm told just as much as everyone else. You'll see what it is when you win."

Ash felt that same bubble of pride expand in his chest, and he nodded his thanks to the fire Master. Blaine grinned back, sunglasses reflecting the glow of the sun. "Time to go back," he said, hunching his shoulders over once again. "Get your team ready. This won't be an easy battle."

"I will," Ash promised, hands over his pokebelt once again. "We're going to win this."

Blaine let out a second of barked laughter. "Go do it, then."

xXx

Eli had lost, to the trainer's obvious frustration when he stormed off the field, which meant that Ash was now facing Kya Sora. She smiled at him across the field, waving cheerfully to the audience. They ate it up, chanting her name.

She had not quite creamed Eli, but it had been close. Her unfezant - which Ash guessed was similar to a pidgeot in Unova, judging by how many he had seen in the competition - had taken down his arcanine and greatly weakened his simipour, and it had only taken her rufflet two hits to finish off the water type. It was clear she was a flying trainer, working her way to become a Master, and she had handled herself expertly so far. The audience loved her, both for her brutally efficient battle tactics and the generally sunny attitude she had. The announcer jerked her hand down, pulling the camera back to her face.

"And welcome to the semi-finals, everyone!" A roar greeted her words. "Only four trainers are left in this competition, and it's only getting fiercer from here. We have Kya Sora and Ash Ketchum here today, but who will come out victorious? Sora releases first. Begin!"

Kya sighed at that, but with a flash, her pokemon appeared.

A mandibuzz, larger than normal and bald head perfectly clean, squawked its arrival. Its bone skirt scratched against the earth, each tooth sharpened. Next to it, a sigilyph hovered, wings flapping slowly and third eye glowing to support itself. It was strange, alien - the geometric shapes and colors of its body looked wrong in a way different than that of the ghosts. He shoved that aside for now, keeping his gaze away from its third unblinking eye.

Two Trio pokemon, which could potentially screw up their ability to concentrate by their own conflicting auras. Judging by how well Kya had performed, they wouldn't have that problem.

But both flying types, and from what he had read, they were mostly defensive, which matched with how Kya had fought so far. He'd need someone to keep the two weakened and another to attack outright.

Tide appeared with a proud bark, slapping his tail against the ground and chilling the air in front of him. A second later, there was the red flash of a pokeball, but Wraith took a heartbeat too long to form.

Immediately, Sigilyph's third eye began to glow, narrowing in on the ghostly energies. It floated lowered before catching itself, wings thrumming as its psychic energy gave it false, invisible feathers in order to give it the lift it needed. It was actually rather interesting, even though Ash didn't like them. Mandibuzz cawed darkly at Tide's icy breath, but its orange eyes flashed in Wraith's direction with contempt.

He didn't appreciate that. Wraith was still on edge, filled with the anger at losing the trace of the strange energy and not being satisfied with the gastly excuse, and it was obvious. His eyes were vivid with the hunt, all fanged cackles and jagged claws, and Kya's brows lowered. She marked him as the greatest threat, to which the ghost seemed pleased.

They stared at each other for a solid second before Kya leapt easily into action, shooting off commands to her pokemon. Mandibuzz immediately pushed off, circling overhead as Sigilyph floated up to match it.

"Tide," Ash said simply. "You know what to do."

Kya stopped, confused. Sigilyph's third eye glowed and thin, narrow psychic barriers attached themselves to Mandibuzz's feathers, a bit like armor. Mandibuzz squawked, flapping harder to combat the slight weight of the barriers. Both flying types were too distracted to see the burning silver sprouting from Tide's throat.

With a proud bark, he cranked his head back and launched it.

The hail exploded against the sky, the psychic barriers becoming visible in their strain to contain it. Kya jerked. Ash grinned. He could dimly hear the excited shriek of both the announcer and the crowd, Kya's panicked face visible a moment before a silvery wind roared around the field.

Hail exploded outward. Thick spheres of ice rained downward, only to be picked up in another burst of wind and thrown upward. Snow turned the air white and Tide, thanks to his natural camouflage, seemed to disappear entirely. The psychic barriers in front of Ash's face thickened as they forced the snow away, although the biting chill was free to roam.

After a moment, a pair of bloody eyes appeared in front of him atop dozens of jagged fangs. Ash did his best to match the wicked grin. "Go for Sigilyph," he said. "Tell Tide to keep Mandibuzz away from you."

With a cackle, Wraith went incorporeal, gaseous body pulled easily away from the raging storm. He avoided any of the pain from the hail, though he still wouldn't be able to see much in the storm, and the two Trio pokemon would only be able to sense him as a shadow before he struck.

Every few seconds, he could see flashes of the pokemon fighting on the field. Tide, blasting a frosted Mandibuzz with aurora beam. Sigilyph, letting out a strange buzzing sound as it fired a psychic blast at something he couldn't see. Kya, her eyes glowing a blistering blue. Ash could see almost nothing of the battle. The hail was entirely contained inside the psychic barriers, but that only made it rebound off the walls, given just enough space to not starve it while letting it thicken with power. Tide's power was impeccable, and it would take a lot for him to lose focus enough that the storm would cease to be under his control.

Wraith appeared for a second, forcing the barriers to go opaque, before diving toward something Ash couldn't see. But his movement cleared the hail's fog just enough so that Ash could see Kya's expression. Hopeful.

There was a roar, one high-pitched and bellowing, that split the battlefield. A second later, a scarlet flash of light that indicated one of her pokemon being recalled. A deep orange glow surfaced from the middle of the hailstorm, falling.

Tide let out a furious bark, and Ash saw him, saw him fly backward with enough force that he slammed into the psychic barriers. He slid to the ground, bleeding heavily from his front, and fell forward. He didn't move.

But after a moment, he rose upward, his black eyes angry and focused. He barked furiously. The hailstorm started to fade, wind dying and hail thudding lifelessly to the ground as his concentration was drawn elsewhere. Wraith appeared from where he had gone incorporeal, claws flashing as he looked around.

Mandibuzz cawed happily, even as it collapsed to the ground. Sigilyph's barriers, layered over its feathers, shattered away, but they had protected it for its final desperate gamble. It had dove straight through the hailstorm and hit Tide with brave bird, if Ash had to guess, relying on nothing but Sigilyph's barriers to avoid killing itself. Kya recalled it the next second. Sigilyph was already gone, probably as soon as it had put up the barriers and detached them from its psychic stores, leaving them with a finite amount of energy. Sigilyph were much more fragile than the mandibuzz line, and it had probably taken all it had just to survive as long as it had in the hailstorm. Kya stared over the ruined, icy field with a frustrated expression on her face.

Tide and Wraith had been the best combo to fight her two aces. Both of her pokemon were fast when needed but Kya's strategy was to keep her pokemon away from the danger - easy with flying types - and watch before attacking. With hailstorm, and a ghost that could go incorporeal and fly around with ease, that wasn't possible.

"And Ketchum's pokemon takes down Sora's in a thrilling of power!" The woman shouted. "Or chilling, I suppose!" Ash winced at the pun. "Now Sora has two pokemon to verse Ketchum's four!"

Kya let out a sigh before a softer smile graced her lips. Brushing her braid back over her shoulder, she released her rufflet, which immediately took to the air with an angry, piercing shriek. It was large, black talons scraping the skies, and it looked just as aggressive as it had earlier.

Her swanna was much quieter. It stayed on the ground, stretching out the tips of its white wings with an air of cool disapproval. Even from a distance, the powerful muscles beneath its feathers were obvious.

Ash had a frown on his face. Wraith would be tired after keeping his weak ectoplasmic skin together in the middle of a hailstorm, and Tide was still bleeding fiercely from his chest with little signs of it stopping. Hail was too exhausting to use again, and the tactic wouldn't surprise Kya now. He'd have to try something different. "Freeze your chest. Then powder snow, get the air around you cold, and stop Rufflet. It'll be going for you, so work on slowing it down and then freezing it."

Wraith hissed when Ash turned his attention to him. "Go for Swanna, get it from helping Rufflet." Kya's double strategy seemed to rely on her two pokemon assisting each other, like with Sigilyph's barriers. "Shadow ball, dark pulse, daze. If you can, get Rufflet to attack you."

Tide looked up from where he had used ice ball, covering his bleeding chest with a thin layer. His cream fur was pink, but as long as he didn't get hit with a fire type attack - unlikely from the water type Swanna or the mainly physical Rufflet - it should stay covered until the end of the battle.

Ash opened his mouth to give another command when Rufflet blitzed through the air and slammed into Tide with aerial ace.

Kya shouted a command, brows lowered and face ashamed, but Rufflet just took off, black talons littered in blue fur. Tide barked, back covered in two neat lines of cuts, but he didn't seem that affected. His thick fat protected him from most everything. Rufflet circled overhead, searching for another opportunity to attack.

It wasn't against the League Code, but the general rule of thumb was eye contact before battling. Rufflet didn't seem to listen very well to her anyway, no matter how powerful it was, and Ash would use that. At his nod, Wraith turned bloody eyes toward Swanna, who met them unflinchingly. It was much calmer than Rufflet.

Tide breathed a steady stream of snow into the air, freezing it further. Rufflet screamed as even a touch of the frost reached it, pumping its wings angrily as Tide continued to not give it an opportunity.

Wraith slid forward, spines stabbing upward like a crown of thrones. He hissed, the sound tangible, and headed for Swanna. The avian made a low sound, extending its frankly enormous wingspan, and took off. Wraith levitated higher to match it.

Tide released a final blast of cold, strong enough to scrape along Rufflet's talons, and waited. The avian, furious at the offense, tucked its wings and dove. With how angry it was, Ash could only compare it to Gale full of evolution hormones. He idly wondered how long it would be until it evolved.

With all the barely-melted hail over the ground, Tide was able to easily slide out of the way and leave Rufflet to slam its talons into the ground. Judging by its reaction, that had hurt, but its talons seemed surprisingly strong. It spluttered back into the air, barely rolling of the way of Tide's parting shot. Screaming, it flew higher to get out of the cold air, frost having crept over its primaries and jerking its flight patterns out of alignment.

Swanna flared its blue crest as it managed to snip Wraith with a well-timed ice beam, shattering his body. He reformed a second later, reaching out with terrible claws to rake them over Swanna's back. It quacked in pain, smoothly shifting to a barrel roll to throw them off. Wraith was forced to go incorporeal to dodge its spinning body, reappearing ten feet up with a jagged snarl across his face. He brandished his spines like weapons.

Kya grinned and slashed her hand through the air. Swanna dove with it, wings glowing, and released two powerful air slashes. Wraith shuffled his gases around, managing to dodge them both, but Swanna was swooping overhead by the time he finished. His bloody eyes expanded in surprise and he dropped, canceling his levitation to splash into Swanna's enormous shadow.

Swanna balked, twisting its long neck to look around, but Wraith was already gone. In his absence, a trio of shadow balls rocketed up from the darkness to explode directly beneath its wings. It squawked, thrown up.

Rufflet screamed, glowing with slash, and dove again. Tide couldn't dodge this one, barely managing to tuck his head in before the avian's talons ripped into the back of his neck. He barked furiously, slamming one flipper into the ground and using it as a boost to roll over. Rufflet tore its talons out a moment before it would have been crushed, but it couldn't escape the point-blank aurora beam that slammed into its wings.

It fell backward, frozen wing hitting the ground hard enough to shatter the ice. That didn't stop the pain it had been put through - Rufflet, while powerful and fast, was not meant for defense. It screamed in frustration, flaring its red feather, and shuffled away. Tide tried to pursue it, but even while lugging a slowly-thawing wing, Rufflet was fast enough to dart away. The cold from the hail hurt it more, but before long, it was able to take off, dodging the angry brine from Tide.

Swanna pulled into a tight loop, shooting back the way it had come in a blink. There was no chance for Wraith to dodge. Instead, he stopped moving an instant before Swanna crashed into him. The second its shining beak hit his ectoplasmic skin, he popped.

Swanna shrieked, confused, but the poisonous gases that made up Wraith's body swarmed around it, covering its head until there wasn't any chance it hadn't breathed at least some of it in. When he was finished, the gases all flew upward, packing together until Wraith reappeared, visibly sagging from the effort of reforming before he gathered himself and leered down.

Swanna struggled, wings flapping unequal with each other as it tried to exhale the poison filling most of its system. The panicked note of Kya's voice jolted it back into being aware, but the shudder that ran through its body meant only one thing. Ash grinned.

Wraith faded out, leaving Swanna to flap unsteadily as the poison coursed through its veins. He reappeared a moment later, spitting a dark pulse from between his teeth to snip Rufflet out of its screaming dive. It slammed into the psychic barriers, throwing itself off just in time to dodge an aurora beam that crackled over the barriers. The crowd screamed in excitement.

Kya looked desperate again, sunny attitude gone beneath how her team was being picked apart. "Bullet!"

Ash's confidence snapped to wariness. That didn't sound like a move he was interested in being on the receiving end of. "Tide, Wraith, barrage."

Immediately, dark pulses and brines raced through the air. Rufflet curved around each one, screaming proudly at each dodged. Swanna stayed back, avoiding most, and Wraith didn't fly up to combat. Kya brushed a loose strand of hair back, eyes flicking. Ash mentally urged his pokemon to fire more, but even when partially frozen, Rufflet was faster than he had given it credit for. Slivers of frost fell from its wings, melting from how fast it was moving them.

Swanna flapped its enormous wings to match, silver energy appearing on the tips. Rufflet dove, listening to Kya's commands for once, and hovered in front of it, humming with a delayed form of aerial ace. After a moment, two air slashes tore themselves out of Swanna's wings and slammed into Rufflet's braced talons.

Rufflet flew forward like Distortion itself was on its heels. Wraith exploded as the avian flew directly through him, sending gases everywhere, and Rufflet didn't stop for a second as it rocketed toward Tide. Ash doubted it could have even flapped with how fast it was going.

It stabbed directly into Tide's chest, shattering the ice there and reopening the wound. The sealeo bellowed, flying backward, but Rufflet just didn't weigh enough. It had done incredible, impressive, terrible damage, but Tide's two hundred pounds hadn't been able to be thrown back. With a cry, he fell forward and slammed into Rufflet's form.

A red flash of light caught it before. Tide slammed into the ground with enough force to shake it. He collapsed, fully falling to the ground. His whiskers twitched once before going limp. Ash clicked his recall to prevent major blood loss, whispering praise to the still pokeball. The crowd cheered furiously, raising their voices as they stared at the last pokemon on the field.

Wraith reformed sluggishly, smaller than normal and with no hands. But his eyes were still alert, and his shadow was strong in Ash's mind. Swanna bobbed, wings extended but unable to fully support its weight. Wraith hissed, spines drooping, and prepped a shadow ball in his mouth. It flew upward, exploding against the water type's side in an explosion of grey lightning.

Kya recalled it the next second, a sigh escaping her lips. But after a moment, she looked up and smiled at Ash, shooting him a thumbs up even as she stepped off the podium with her pokeballs close to her face.

Wraith was nearly collapsed, glaring around at the cheering crowd with furious eyes. But he still looked proudly up at Ash, his spines fading away as he lost concentration. Ash recalled him before he disappeared completely, smiling. He tapped the pokeball, thanking the haunter quietly. It shook back as an answer before going still.

"And Ash Ketchum wins his way into the finals!" The announcer shouted, earning an answering roar from the crowd. "We will have a short break, and then the final battle of the Cinnabar Tournament will commence!"

The audience was still loud and overbearing but now, after winning four battles under their watchful gaze, he didn't feel as scared. Giving a short wave to the audience, prompting a cheer, he disappeared off of the competitor's stand.

xXx

Ash wouldn't normally count himself as a nervous person, even though crowds tended to activate his flight response, but this battle was different. And that was mainly because of the opponent he was facing.

Derrick Dorobo.

He hadn't seen him since Fuschia City, but in all of his calls with Professor Oak, it was obvious Derrick was doing incredibly well as a trainer. His newest pokemon was insanely powerful and had won him the Earth Badge, practically unheard of in this time, as well as most of the Tournament. And he already had eight badges. Not all of them were from the main gyms - most of them weren't - but the Earth Badge was a calling card for power. That had garnered him a lot of attention so far in the Tournament.

"And now, for the finals of the Cinnabar Tournament!" The announcer paused to let the crowd react, a grin spreading over her face. "Today, we have Ash Ketchum, who has only lost one pokemon across all of his battles, and Derrick Dorobo, who dominated his matches so far, facing against each other to win the first place position and prize!" Once again, the premier ball was in her hands, held high as the camera zoomed in. His resolve strengthened. "It is a three v three. Now, Dorobo will toss first. Begin!"

Ash nodded, staring at the fixed field. There was nothing to show the previous battles beside the darker patches of dirt that had been overturned. He glanced up at Derrick, who had already pulled out his pokeball. There was no hesitation in his eyes as he clicked the release. With a roar, his snorlax appeared on the field.

It was eleven feet tall, nearly that wide, and disturbingly gentle. That was one of their weapons - from a distance, they had soft fur, a round, unthreatening appearance, and sheathed claws that were barely visible.

But then, once people moved closer, their true strength was revealed. Thick fat protected every part of their body. Claws nearly six inches long stabbed outward, fangs jagged and long, full of enough weight to crush steel flat. The snorlax grunted, ears flicking as it tried to absorb what was going on. It still had a few cuts over its stomach from when Claude Ickru's milotic had tried to stop it with aqua tail, but they were mostly healed and it didn't seem to even know they were there. They were juggernauts, even at the young age Derrick's looked to be, and their thick fat could shrug off just about anything. Even hyper beams wouldn't do much.

Ash didn't know where he had gotten one - they were ridiculously rare - and it wasn't as tall or bulky as any he had seen in the Conference, but there was no denying the strength it held. Ash frowned, thumbing over his pokeballs.

All of his pokemon were injured, but Nurse Joy had worked her magic as best she could. Tide and Wraith were exhausted, now that the battle was over. Karma didn't have the power necessary to fight the massive being. It was too strong for Rhydon as it was right now, muscles and height far beyond his. He'd need to injure it.

Gale emerged with a shriek, flaring his crest and jerking his wings down. The crowd cheered, but even just looking at the field it was obvious which team they thought would win. Snorlax were used by Champions. Fearow were pokemon most thought of as pests.

At Ash's command, Gale took to the air easily, the small bare patch on his wing mostly covered. He shot up to fifty feet, circling slowly overhead. Snorlax yawned, narrow eyes tracking him slowly. But he had gotten its attention. With a rumble, it walked a few feet forward, shaking the ground with every step.

The bite of Derrick's voice dragged its eyes back to him. "Thunder, hyper beam, focus blast when you land it."

Ash frowned - those were all expensive, limited TMs - and lifted a hand to his mouth. Two long, piercing whistles later, and Gale blurred into motion. Agility snapped him across the sky as the crowd cheered.

Snorlax grunted, craning its neck back and trying to follow the brown streak across the face. After a moment of failure, its thin eyes narrowed further and it hungrily bared its fangs. Lightning crackled around its pointed ears, a shock of yellow against the dark blue, and it launched it with a grunt.

Gale threw out his tail to sharply change his direction and swerved, but the thunder was so large it seemed to blast apart the sky, bright enough Ash had to avert his eyes. A resounding _crack_ announced its presence.

Snorlax looked around dumbly as no fried fearow fell to the ground. Gale shrieked, the edges of his primaries trailing smoke. Even the mere presence of the ridiculously powerful electricity attack had hurt him. Snorlax stared up at that, more lightning sparking around its ears.

With a desperate shriek, Gale fully dropped, wings tucked and head twisted. He fell like a rocket, leaving the blast of yellow-white to slam into the psychic barriers. They strained to contain it. Gale snapped his wings out the next second, pulling into a narrow flight that forced him to match the shape of the ground beneath him.

Snorlax clumsily swatted at him as he passed, but even while only five feet off the ground, Gale's mobility was something to be admired. Barrel rolling, he dodged the glowing claws and shot upward, stopping back at his safe spot of forty feet up. The crowd howled at him.

With a speed truly frightening, Snorlax charged a hyper beam. The glowing ball of orange particles appeared in front of its chubby face and fired nearly two seconds later, splitting the air with the hiss of evaporating water. Gale was barely able to dodge. No matter how fast agility made him, the field was still small for such an enormous avian like him, and his range was limited. He shrieked angrily as a few of his tail feathers were ripped out, the explosion of the move against the psychic barriers throwing him back.

Snorlax sagged over, the tax of the draining move hitting it hard enough to show it wasn't well trained. Ash seized the advantage. "Pin!" He hadn't come up with a whistle for combos yet.

Gale shrieked back, pulling out of agility. He had been close enough to hear it, but it still took a few moments to get into position, swooping overhead with his wings glowing blue.

Snorlax barely had time to look up before a blast of burning wind slammed into its body. It bellowed, stomach jiggling from the force of the moves, but it just weighed too much to be moved. Gale shrieked, redoubling his efforts, but Snorlax just swatted at the fire in annoyance. Its fur wasn't dry enough to properly catch and its feet were firmly rooted. Another ball of orange formed in front of its mouth, dimmer with the presence of heat wave slamming into it.

Gale didn't see it coming in time. The hyper beam, though weakened by pin, sniped him right across the chest.

Blood fell alongside him. The fearow shrieked, barren instincts rising to the forefront as he snapped his wings out. He managed to slow from his screaming pace an instant before he slammed into the ground hard enough to make it shake.

Snorlax bellowed, stomping over like it was activating earthquake with every step. Gale flapped furiously, trying to unpin his undoubtedly broken talon from the earth. He clutched it tight to his chest, crest flaring in pain. His eyes were a flat black.

At Ash's shouted commands, he managed to take off, dodging the focus blast that exploded a crater the size of an average meteorite strike into the earth. He squawked, leveling out at twenty feet. His flight was unsteady, twitching.

Desperate, Ash whistled two notes, high-pitched, followed by three low. Gale took a moment before he spun around into a wide, looping turn, glowing fiercely with an array of colors. Aerial ace and steel wing folded smoothly into each other, forcing him to fall to the ground like a star itself. His wings sliced directly into the back of Snorlax's neck. It fell to the ground with a _boom_.

There was a pause. And then a terrible howl filled the air, roaring hate to Arceus above. Gale sprang backward, clumsy on his single talon, and braced himself.

Snorlax tore itself upward, rage burning its eyes black. Blood, pulled from beneath its thick reservoirs of fat, leaked over its back. Derrick hissed a command and it followed, anger deep set in its expression and fangs bared. Its fists began to glow a dim purple. Giga impact.

Gale's beak flashed, glowing, as the fearow threw himself to the ground. He fell forward and punctured cleanly through Snorlax's leg with enough force to emerge on the other side. Snorlax _roared_ , the sound blasting across the battlefield with enough force to rip dirt into the air. Gale's eyes closed. Snorlax slammed its two fists down, thrumming with furious energy, and hit only earth.

Ash held the trembling pokeball to his face, thanking him profusely, before reattaching it to his waist. Frustration and anger gripped his throat. Derrick had a grin across his face, watching his Snorlax rise back to its feet with a pained bellow. After a moment, however, it seemed to have forgotten about its pain, staring around confusedly for an enemy. But though there was barely any blood, Ash knew it wouldn't be walking easily for the rest of the battle. Snorlax were mostly fat and muscle, so Ash didn't worry about permanent damage, but Gale had successfully crippled it for the match. That was all he could ask of his friend.

The announcer shouted her comments to the vocal crowd, ending it with a hint toward Ash to release his next pokemon. He ignored her, frowning across the battlefield. Snorlax was slightly tired from using all the ridiculously powerful moves that had won it the previous matches, but their endurance was legendary and this one was matching up.

Tide and Wraith were too injured from their previous matches, and Scorch and Karma couldn't take a single hit from the behemoth. It could throw all sorts of moves he guessed at anything long distance, and most would fall beneath its massive body in physical combat. Ash's hand fell to his first pokeball and clicked the release.

Rhydon was partially healed. His plates had regenerated somewhat and his wounds numbed, but he wasn't completely ready. But still he roared his challenge, slamming his tail into the ground and having the little electricity he had regenerated crackle over his horn. The crowd ate it up, giving the ground type a final boost of confidence as he stared at his foe.

Snorlax grunted, glancing down in confusion as its leg nearly buckled beneath it. At the snap of Derrick, it stopped moving, settling for staring at its opponent with narrow eyes. It seemed to have forgotten its anger at Gale, though there was still hunger taut in its expressions.

Derrick seemed fond of using incredibly powerful moves and nothing else. Now that it wasn't facing a flying type, Ash imagined he'd have it use the same strategies it had used before - getting over to its opponent and pummeling it to the ground.

Rhydon looked back at his friend, nodding lowly. Ash returned before giving his attention back to the battle. He gave himself a few seconds to come up with a strategy.

"Rock polish, implosion. Above all else, keep it away from you. Crater whenever you can. It already took down Gale and it's still got a lot more to fight on." Rhydon rumbled, crushing his claws together and glaring. Snorlax returned it easily, swinging one massive fist with enough force to pull its body forward.

Rhydon glowed softly, pieces of stone-keratin falling to the ground. Dust flew out alongside it, giving him perfectly smoothed plates, and he bellowed a challenge. Snorlax answered it. At Derrick's roared command, a narrow expression on the boy's face, its claws began to flicker with fighting energy. Rhydon never let it finish.

With the smash of his tail, an earth power rippled over the earth and opened a crater directly beneath Snorlax. The normal type bellowed it surprise as it fell, falling heavily on its stabbed foot.

Rhydon, with speed that looked almost wrong, charged across to the other side of the field, trusting Snorlax would be so confused by the fall to not feel the vibrations of him moving. An instant later, a hyper beam exploded through the earth, exploding directly where he had been. It had been weakened by going through several feet of dirt, but the meaning was clear - Snorlax was pissed. He'd have to play to this strength and let it exhaust itself.

Rhydon rumbled, stomping another foot onto the ground. With a groan, it buckled beneath him, snapping outward toward the crater.

Dirt rained inward, shaken loose by the second earth power, and filled the hole within seconds. Rhydon spun his horn, but he didn't let his guard down. The battlefield wasn't deep enough to bury Snorlax to the point it couldn't dig itself back out, and there was still more to the fight.

A blue paw emerged from the rock, dusted to the point it looked grey. Claws larger than Ash's hand ripped at the earth, tearing it apart as the behemoth of a normal type dragged itself out of the crater. Ash flinched at the rage-filled roar that echoed across the battlefield.

Its black eyes burned with a power few could harness. A hyper beam exploded out before it was fully out, managing to sear its away across Rhydon's side even as he tried to dodge. He bellowed in pain, one of his spines snapped off, but squared up. This wasn't a battle he would lose.

"Focus blast!" Derrick roared, slamming one fist into the railing around his stand. "Don't let it trap you again!"

Snorlax grunted, eyes narrowing further. It pulled itself out of the mess of rock and stone, uncaringly settling on both of its legs. Rhydon's eyes flicked down as he saw the glaring weakness. His horn crackled with electricity.

The shock wave spilled harmlessly over Snorlax's thick fat, but it got its attention. It bellowed, starting to run forward. A focus blast, glowing a staggeringly bright red, built in its clenched claws.

Rhydon spun his horn and slammed his tail into the ground. It jerked out in a weakened version of the earthquake he had practiced, just enough to bounce beneath Snorlax's feet. It nearly tripped, massive weight pushing forward while its feet slowed, and that gave Rhydon enough time to trigger an enormous stone edge to slam into the underside of Snorlax's jaw.

Its head cracked backward. With a confused grunt, it wrenched it back down, only to see Rhydon practically sprinting around to the opposite side of the field. It didn't need Derrick's shouts to come up with an attack.

Rhydon had only made it halfway across with an earthquake, a _real_ earthquake, shattered the ground beneath him. He bellowed in surprise, falling, and had only just dragged himself up when Snorlax fell on him.

Its bulk made fighting easy. With no need or move nor strategy it tore into him, launching punch after punch into his much smaller body. Rhydon was dwarfed by it. With a roar, it slammed one fist into his body hard enough to shatter the main line of spines down his back. Rhydon made a screeching, howled sound and fell.

"Horn attack!" Ash screamed.

Rhydon bellowed in understanding and pain, spines broken and snapped, and dropped fully. Snorlax's punch went wide, wreathing the air in the power of its blow, and it blinked in confusion a moment before Rhydon lunged upward and impaled it.

Snorlax roared, claws ripping into Rhydon's back. He bellowed back, visibly trembling, but stabbed his horn deeper before jerking back. Using an impromptu curl of earth, he managed to throw himself back, far enough out of Snorlax's reach.

The normal type looked shocked. For most likely one of the first times, something that successfully punctured its fat stomach. Gale had gotten its neck and leg, but those were common weak points for snorlax. Rhydon's enormous horn had been enough, if the gaping hole bleeding steadily had anything to say.

Derrick's commands struck like thunder over the battlefield. Pure anger flashed to life in Snorlax's eyes, somehow dwarfing anything Ash had seen before. Two focus blasts burned its claws scarlet, ready to be fired.

"Rhydon!" Ash couldn't help it, he was screaming, Rhydon's back was shattered and he hadn't seen anything like it. "Bury it!"

His tail slammed into the ground hard enough to indent.

Snorlax had barely fired one focus blast before it fell. The red slammed into Rhydon's chest but the crater was the largest he had ever created, dropping Snorlax down to the psychic barriers underneath the battlefield. It had to be twenty feet deep. In a second, the dirt on every side of the hole fell it, trapping the behemoth beneath hundreds of pounds of dirt. It trembled from some unseen force.

Rhydon stumbled upward, his main chest spiderwebbed with a series of cracks. He shuddered, horn spinning erratically, but managed to focus on his opponent. All he felt was the thrum of the earth and the trapped being inside it. A snarl built in his throat, eyes dark.

Light exploded upward, ripping apart a thin tunnel. The barest hint of a hyper beam popped before reaching the psychic barriers, too weakened by the dirt, and sent a small shockwave out in the air. Snorlax bellowed, shaking the ground itself with its rage, before falling quiet. The earth was too much in its weakened state.

Still, Derrick waited for nearly a minute before pressing his release with a snarl. He stared over the field with angry eyes, but Ash wasn't focused on him.

"Rhydon," he tried. The ground type bellowed, confused and pained, but he managed to recognize the sound of his trainer's voice and turn to him. "Calm down, bud. I'm going to recall you now, okay?"

He twisted, nearly falling, and gave Ash one final view of his shattered plates. Something tight gripped his stomach as he recalled his starter, rambling quietly to the pokeball before it fell still. It wasn't nearly as bad as Charizard but there was something hollowing about watching the pokemon that had nearly crushed Gale take down Rhydon as well, and even then, it had only gone down by being trapped under twenty feet of stone.

Derrick didn't waste another second. His second pokemon appeared, standing nearly four feet tall and covered in tan-brown scales. The sandslash, no doubt his starter, chittered almost nervously at the crowds but jabbed its claws through the air. It was strong and well-grown, and Derrick had always used it well in battle.

He had only one pokemon still fresh. Karma appeared with a flash of light, staring around at the ruin of the battlefield. Sandslash chittered, drawing her attention, but he could feel her in his mind. "Two more, both fresh." His voice was soft. "You're the last one."

A tightness settled in his chest. "Let's do it, Karma," he said, trying to make his meaning clear. By how her ears pressed flat against her skull, she got what he was saying. "We're ending this."

Cavedwellers, brittle spines, adept at using its claws. "Flash."

Karma's ears perked and she raised her shine, even as Sandslash wrenched up balls of dirt. An instant before it launched the mud shot, Karma's shine exploded into a wave of rippling light, burning even over Ash's closed eyes. He distantly heard a squeak of pain, Sandslash losing all manner of concentration in the intense blast of light. The audience roared at the move, even as they pulled hats over their eyes and tried to blink the spots out.

When the light faded, Derrick's shout made Sandslash throw the dozen mud shots wide, the large balls of dripping earth raining over the half field Karma had been in. Nothing hit. Before Sandslash could fully recover, a compressed psycho cut slammed into its back. She teleported out with a _crack_ before Sandslash could even pinpoint where she was.

It squeaked, spinning, and jumped. The magnitude rippled over the earth, forcing Karma to float higher to avoid the jagged cracks of earth, ruining the field even more after Snorlax's earthquake. One of the ponds popped, its cage of earth broken, and started to spill water over the arena.

Sandslash curled into a ball to avoid a barrage of psycho cuts, rolling perfectly up with its head tucked beneath its body. One particularly large blade managed to cut off one of its quills at the base, removing a section of armor, but it didn't seem to even notice. When she teleported away to avoid its returning mud shots, it crouched lowering, quills glowing, and released a wave of ray-shaped energy projectiles. Swift.

"Can't dodge these," Ash called, eyes narrowed. So far, it seemed like this battle had just been a test of each others' skills. Derrick used his starter's egg move judiciously, but it didn't seem to be only full of TMs.

Karma's eyes flashed and she released a wave of energy, blowing against the swift hard enough to explode a half of them. Two narrow psybeams ended the rest, sweeping over the air to get them all.

Sandslash had taken the opportunity to regroup, Derrick filling it with half a dozen commands and before sending it out again. It chittered, rubbing its claws over each other, and prepared a glowing focus blast.

Ash cursed. Here were the TMs. Derrick seemed fond of that one, for any particular reason, and Sandslash seemed well-versed in its use. "Gravity, get it pinned, and float a barrier around you. Multistrike."

Karma's shine flashed downward and Sandslash moved to follow it, squeaking as its feet embedded in the earth and toppling over. It thrashed, unable to pick itself up, the focus blast dissipating in its claws.

A barrier wrapped itself around Karma's body, thin enough it could move with her, though she'd have to actively reattach it to her psychic power if she wanted to teleport with it. The next second, balls of light appeared around her, one of her most favored combos. Sandslash barely had time to look up before a barrage of shrunken psybeams slammed into its prone form.

The gravity wasn't enough and it was thrown backward, psychic burns covering its quills. It whined in pain but dragged itself upward, glaring fiercely for such a timid creature. A barrage of poison stings flew through the air, but Karma let them hit her barrier fruitlessly. Ash and Derrick met gazes.

"Psybeam!"

"Dig!"

Sandslash took the command to heart. Karma's psybeam splashed over nothing but dirt as it disappeared into a hole. Her ears flattened for a moment, kinesis strengthening her mortal eyes as she stared into the hole, but then they perked again. Ash frowned as he watched her - her tail twitched as she slowly spun, staring down. Her eyes were glowing. She was tracking it with her sixth sense.

"Karma, take it!" Ash shouted.

Derrick let out an ugly laugh. "Good luck, Ketchum! His dig isn't something your kadabra can-"

She jerked her shine forward, wreathing the air in ribbons of psychic blue, and the earth exploded in front of her. Derrick jerked, a high pitched whine filling the air, as Karma pulled Sandslash up mid-dig and held it in the air with a powerful psychic. It squeaked in pain as the energy pressed in on all sides, crushing it.

She glanced back at him, black eyes glowing, as Sandslash struggled in the air. The audience obviously got it, exploding with roared laughter. Derrick's eyes narrowed. A command, too quiet for Ash to hear over the crowd, reached Sandslash. Karma strengthened her psychic hold, preparing to smash it against the ground.

But then she hissed, ears flattening, as Sandslash's claws started to glow a rich, dark hue. Shadow claw. It thrashed, still barely able to move, but it was snapping the threads of the psychic hold. Karma drifted backward as it plummeted to the ground, tensed and ready to teleport if it came at her.

With a squeak, it vibrated. Ash blinked, confused, at least a moment before four other copies split off its shaking form. Karma's eyes flashed before their glow faded - each of the double teams activated shadow claw with a hiss.

They circled her slowly, and Ash felt himself be on the opposing side of Scorch's illusions. Karma teleported back with a _crack_ , giving her more feet to retreat, but they moved endlessly. The shadow claw damped her powers, and the copies were staying close enough together that they were all covered in the aura.

"Psycho cut," Ash called. "The one in the middle."

One of the copies dissolved but the others dodged expertly, all reacting with the same motion of jumping to the side. Sandslash didn't have a high enough level of control to make them all move separately, but Karma's frustration grew nevertheless. She hissed in Ash's mind, mustache twitching. She was remarkably angry.

Two more exploded, leaving only two left, but they both charged her. She tried to teleport but the shadow claw was potent enough to throw off her aim. From where she appeared about ten feet over, Sandslash dissolved its other clone and charged her. She released a powerful psybeam, but it destroyed it with a swipe of its claws and attacked her. The barrier shattered on impact and ghostly energies flowed directly into her.

Ash grimaced. "Distract it!"

Karma created a flash and exploded it point-blank. Sandslash screeched, wide eyes for the dark fully blinded, and stumbled back. Having no psychic energy to use, she settled for the next best thing - reaching out with her spindly arms and slashing at its face.

It fell, squeaking, and tried to get up. She floated back, feet nearly touching the ground, and lashed out with a wave of unrefined power. The shadow claw stained most of it, but enough was able to get past and knocked Sandslash back. It collapsed and didn't move.

Karma twitched, grey lightning still racing over her form, but there was a glow in her eyes and her psionic bubble was slowly reinflating. There was fight left in her.

Derrick scowled, recalling his starter. He took in Karma's obvious damaged form - the attack had taken a lot out of her. "Not bad, Ketchum," he called across, a hint of a grin pulling his lips up. "One more."

Karma's eyes flashed, natural aura forcing out the ghostly energies, but even she blanched as her next opponent arrived. It wasn't much, just a flattening of her ears and bristling of her tail, but it was clear to Ash.

The tentacruel was enormous. Seven feet at the height of its orbs, armor thick enough it was growing unevenly. It stared across the field, aggression pouring from its form. It was the perfect combo to Sandslash - aggressive, both physical and ranged, and able to completely trap enemies when they got within reach.

Ash could hear the announcer say something, hyping the crowd up, but he didn't focus on that. Karma was slowly regaining her power, but she was tired, and there wasn't exactly a way for her to regain what she had lost. They'd have to be creative to win this one. "Psybeam, teleport. Stay away from its tentacles." She touched his mind with yellow-orange as an answer before pulling away, directing her attention entirely to the battle in front of her. One last opponent.

"Brine!" Derrick snapped as a reply.

The beam of fluctuating energy raced over the field, only to meet a sniped stream of water. Both exploded against each other, releasing a cloud of mist up. In the distraction, Tentacruel started to move forward, dragging itself along the ground using its numerous tentacles. Karma's enhanced eyes snapped in its direction, ears flat. Another psybeam was blocked by a blast of water.

"Poison jab." Derrick seemed less concerned now, watching the battle with a grin over his face.

Tentacruel gurgled and moved faster. Karma raised her shine, nailing it with an iridescent psybeam, but that didn't stop it from sliding over the ground. She teleported out, bringing a thunderous _crack_ along for the ride with how tired she was.

The second she appeared, Tentacruel turned in her direction and spat an absolutely enormous amount of dark acid. She raised a hasty shield to stop it but it wasn't enough - it shattered through and slammed against her form. Karma hissed, shuddering violently. Using thrashing waves of psychic energy, she managed to throw most off, but it had already done its damage. She was poisoned, and badly.

Tentacruel twitched, rumbling as a strange pain raced through its mind. Ash smiled a bit nervously - synchronize would release waves of pain when Karma was under extreme attack. Good, because Tentacruel was now weakened, but bad, because that meant Karma was under significant enough duress she was resolving to her species' most basic attack.

Derrick frowned. "Brine," he called. Tentacruel groaned, releasing a burst of sickly colored water. Karma blasted away most of it and raised a shield to block the rest. Tentacruel made an odd, groaning sound, releasing another brine. Karma chose to teleport this time, but her shoulders sagged heavily as she appeared. Another shudder ran over her body, forcing Tentacruel to twitch. It gurgled, poison dripping from each of its exposed tentacles. The purple hissed and spat, eating through the floor without any real effort.

Karma raised her shine, preparing for something powerful, but Tentacruel apparently had decided enough was enough. With a dark gurgle, it readied an ice beam and spat it.

The kadabra barely made it. Part of her whisker was frozen but she teleported successfully, appearing behind the water type with two psycho cuts prepped. Tentacruel gurgled as they sliced into its tentacles, nearly slicing them off, before it retracted them into its shell. Derrick shouted a command, and Ash rushed to match it. "Psychic!"

Karma's shine flashed and a psybeam erupted out, powerful but not a psychic. Ash's fists clenched. The poison was affecting her more than he had thought. Tentacruel's ice beam slammed into the psybeam with enough force to trigger an explosion. Karma floated backward, sagging, and tried to regain her wits. Derrick pressed his advantage. "Ice beam!"

Tentacruel gurgled as the first was absorbed by a barrier, but its second sniped Karma directly on her leg. Immediately, it froze over, weighing her down to near the ground. Her ears flattened and she hissed, harnessing her power like a sledgehammer to break it off. Derrick had a grin.

"Hydro pump!"

Ash's eyes widened. Karma was still furiously shattering chunks of ice off of her leg, shivering uncontrollably. Tentacruel gurgled, raising its two largest tentacles, and spat an absolutely enormous blast of water. It seemed like an ocean itself. She never had a chance to dodge.

Karma hit the ground with enough force to carve a furrow into the earth. She struggled, claws twitching, ears snapping, eyes glowing. Pain split through his mind. Tentacruel paused in its slow crawl forward, most of its tentacles reduced after the amount of water it had fired, and its orbs flashed a dull red. Karma's eyes seemed to beat with the same pulse. Light flooded over the field, burning bright enough Ash had to look away. The crowd fell silent. Dimly, from the corner of his eye, Ash could see a ball of white fire rise into the air, crackling with whips of light that slammed into the ground.

He had seen this before, but never like this. The light redoubled again, burning like the sun. There was silence beyond the crack of earth. In a flash, the light fully retreated with an incredible _boom_.

An alakazam floated over the field. Karma twitched the end of her flowing mustache, flicked her enormous ears, and narrowed her pitch eyes at Tentacruel. The water type raised its enormous beak, another ice beam charging. A second before it fired, Karma's shine flashed and a shield appeared around the ice beam. With a flick of her ears, the energy was squashed. Derrick blanched.

All traces of poison were gone, and Karma looked angry enough that her wounds didn't bother her. She took Derrick's confusion and went on the offensive.

Tentacruel gurgled warily as Karma's shine glowed a fierce, burning blue. It tried to form another ice beam, cold wind spiraling outward, but Karma didn't care. She snapped her shine out, claws stabbing the air, and caught the water type outright. It struggled, tentacles thrashing, but she pinned it with her mental command.

In a second, it was twenty feet in the air. Karma's ears flicked and it was crushed, psychic power pressing on it from all sides. Tentacruel gurgled in pain, each tentacle crammed against its body by the psychic power. With a wave of her shine, barriers flashed to life around it, sturdier than just holding it. The water type thrashed, but there was nothing it could do. The box crushed it on all sides, rendering it helpless, and then threw it at the ground. It hit the earth with a thud like a falling tree and didn't move.

Derrick stared at it with wide eyes. He didn't seem to know how to react.

Karma's eyes flashed and she reached out with a tendril of blue, sensing Tentacruel. After a moment, she realized that it was unconscious and pulled her energy back into her shine. With perked ears, she turned back to Ash, inflating her psionic bubble to be on eye level with him. He dimly realized she was taller than him now.

"Hey," he said, not quite knowing what to say. She connected with him mentally, stain rising to life in new, particular brightness.

Her voice was much smoother, losing most of its echo and crackle. _I have… evolved._

Ash couldn't help the enormous grin that spread over his face. "You did." He paused, watching Derrick recall his pokemon with an angry curl to his lips. "You're amazing."

She perked up at that, making a movement like she wanted to flick her tail only to realize she didn't have one anymore. A confused expression passed over her eyes, much longer claws twitching sporadically.

Karma was taller now, slightly above him. She had lost the three lines over her abdomen, and her body was more segmented, for lack of a better term. Her skin had lightened somewhat, though her armor stayed the same. The star on her forehead was gone, too - now that her psychic powers had been unlocked to their full potential, she had no need of secondary shines. All she would need was her two pieces of silver.

The alakazam examined her shine curiously. It was now much too small for her palm, and her claws could only clumsily hold it. He'd have to buy her a lot more silver.

"How much stronger do you feel?"

Karma's ears slashed upward in intense humor. _Much. It is strange. Our connection, as well. I have no fear that I will be forced to stop talking_. She flexed her claws, letting blue rise to the tips. _Training will be increased_. Her eyes flashed. _Humans approach_.

Ash looked up just in time to see the announcer walk toward him, followed by a camera and microphone. A wide smile split her face, and she walked close to stand by his side. The camera panned to capture both their faces, and Ash tried for a nervous grin. Red-yellow bloomed in his mind, and Karma's ears were flicking with barely-restrained laughter.

"And Ash Ketchum dominates the final battle with his incredible alakazam! Everyone, I'd like to welcome you to the winner of the Cinnabar Tournament!"

A cheer, loud enough to shake his bones, erupted from the crowds. Ash waved at the camera, unable to fully keep himself from watching the audience. They were all standing, a sea of arms and faces, and he couldn't pick out a single one. Derrick was already gone.

"Up to the podium," she whispered to him, the camera panning away to focus on Karma. She hissed, but seemed to enjoy the attention, letting a crackle of psychic energy jump between her ears like lightning. The alakazam seemed to be adjusting to her new body remarkably quickly.

"We'll just give you your winnings, and then you can leave." The announcer gestured for him to follow her, still explaining. "We'll try to keep you from the public if you want - I'm going to guess yes - but once you're out of the arena, you'll be on your own. I'd suggest a hotel unless you want to be swarmed."

Ash thanked her, glancing back to make eye contact with Karma. She was annoyed with the camera now, black eyes narrowed, and allowed herself to be recalled. He reattached the pokeball to his waist, his grin unable to leave his face.

She was evolved, fully. He couldn't wait to see how powerful she was.

xXx

Ash grinned, squinting against the sun, and tried to wave. The crowd howled their approval.

"And, in first place, we have Ash Ketchum!" The announcer shouted, flashing the audience a cheerful grin. She handed him a sort of trophy, the base in the shape of the island with a superimposed arena jutting out where the volcano was. An enormous number one emerged from the top. He grunted as he accepted it - metal painted gold, it seemed. That was getting sent home.

She took a stance to Ash's left. Derrick - who refused to look at him, staring darkly at the crowd - was at his left, followed by George, and Kya taking up forth. The announcer waited a moment, letting the crowd finish their cheering. "The money will be wired to their accounts before the day is out, and the pokeballs are being handed out now." A pause, where she shot a grin in Ash's direction. "But that's not what everyone is waiting for, is it?"

Another roar, louder this time.

Ash held out his hand and she pressed the premier ball into it, a more real smile curving her lips. "It's already been briefed on what's happening, so don't worry about releasing it," she whispered. "It's not very scared of crowds." He had been wondering about that, but he trusted her.

He paused for a moment, rubbing his thumb over the release before pressing it. There was a flash of scarlet before a pokemon coalesced into being.

It was small, nearly two feet tall. Mostly black, with dark scarlet limbs. Its arms ended in blades, looking almost like knives, and one similar to an ax bisected its head. Four steel spikes emerged from its chest, connected by bladed ribs. All in all, it looked like a living weapon.

Amber eyes stared at his face. Ash stared back, feeling a test. Something rose in his mind, uniquely different from his stain or shadow, prodding at memories and thoughts like it was curious.

"And it's a pawniard!" She announced. The pawniard glanced at her, but its attention was solely focused on Ash. After a long, almost uncomfortable silence, it finally nodded. The presence in his mind settled back down.

"A rare, incredibly difficult to capture dark and steel type from the depths of Unova!" The crowd ate it up. "Ash will have a powerful pokemon on his team, there's no doubt about that. But for now, let's hear it for the winner of our Tournament!"

More cheers split the air. Ash watched as Pawniard stepped closer to him, blades sliding against each other. It stood quietly by him, staring up at his face without breaking. The woman coughed lightly and he jerked, staring over the crowd. They bellowed at him, cheering like the world was ending.

It had been his first public win, but it wouldn't be his last. Ash glanced down at Pawniard, who still hadn't removed its amber eyes from him. His resolve strengthened.

This was one step. At the end, the Indigo Conference awaited.

xXx

 **Hey, everyone. This chapter came out faster than normal, but the others will take longer than two weeks, lol. I just had a bit of a writing bug for this one. I'm sorry if I didn't use your OC, but thank you to 11JJ11 for Eli Vide, DradX for Mark Evens, WingedBirdy for Emily Archer, Dreaming of the Phoenix for Lucien Yume, and Dragonridr21 for Kya Sora. I mentioned a few others in there, but those were the ones that fit best with my story.**

 **So, a few important announcements. Sometime over the course of the next month or so, I am going to go back through the story and edit a few things. They won't change the story much, but it will be different.**

 **Gale's fly - I tried to make the move too similar to the game mechanics and lost the sense of realism. He shouldn't need a move to fly, he's a flying type. I'm going to be replacing that move with another, tailwind. The same goes for Tide's surf - it doesn't work to give him partial water control, and I dislike how many boundaries I tried to give it. He's going to learn iron tail instead.**

 **My take on ghost vs normal/fighting types - me again trying to make things more realistic, only to fail. I'm going to have it be much more similar to how most game/canon elements work, by making normal and fighting type moves simply make the ghost type incorporeal if they are hit, and ghost type moves just fizzling out before reaching a normal type.**

 **I will also edit a few mistakes in previous chapters. This isn't the major fix-up that I will do come the end of Kanto, just small issues.**

 **EDIT: I did the updates. There aren't many, but they're there. You can read them if you want.**

 **Also, I'm sorry for updating the last chapter on the same day as Traveler again. I swear, I'll get a schedule from him to avoid that.**

 **On that note - I am now on the hunt for a beta. It's finally time lol, and my writing needs it. I'm not quite sure how I'll be able to do this, as I haven't worked with a beta before nor have any idea how to give back to them, but I'd appreciate any tips!**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Please read and review!**


	13. A Second Trial

Ash's eyes lit up, catching on the dull edge on a boulder. He rounded the corner, stepping off the tired path, and found himself in a clearing. It wasn't very large, but it had a decently sized boulder that would be good for what he needed.

His team wasn't out with him. Most of them were still recovering from the Tournament - although Nurse Joy had healed them up, those kinds of battles made pokemon sore for days afterward. The Tournament had been yesterday, and Ash didn't expect them to be in peak condition for a week or so.

They only had one more day on Cinnabar until they were sailing out on a Seagallop Ferry, one of the few available. It seemed that most of the tourists wanted to spend a few more days on the island after watching the fighting, which meant that there was, very literally, only that ferry and the ones in a month weren't booked. He had been incredibly lucky to get what he had.

His waist, though full of seven pokeballs, felt empty. Tide wasn't with him. The sealeo had been completely knocked out following his battle, and because of his thick fat and how much it needed to regenerate, he had the opposite of increased healing. It would take him every day of that week to heal back up to the point where he was ready to battle. So Ash had traded him out for Pawniard, trusting him to Professor Oak's professional care. The ice type hadn't even been awake, still unconscious, and Ash was hoping to arrive in Pallet Town before he woke up. Being without his pokemon was strange, like an itch beneath his skin.

He ran his fingers over the smooth white ball on his waist, not a single ding on its surface yet. Ash had done a lot of research on the pawniard the previous night, compiling an impressively large folder about them. Dark and steel came with very few natural predators, and even the timburr line, who were fighting types and incredibly powerful against pawniard, avoided them in the wild. At that was for one main reason - their hunting strategy.

Each pack in the wild was made of one bisharp and four to six pawniard. They patrolled their delegated territory faithfully, which helped given they were partially nocturnal, and rarely let any threat make it very far once it crossed their barriers. In hunts or attacks, the bisharp would stand back and direct its pawniard using minute changes in its natural aura, the dark energy commanding them to their maximum effectiveness. Then, once the enemy was crippled, the bisharp came forward and delivered the final blow with the enormous blade on its head. Cruel and efficient. There was little that could stand up to them, which was why having one as a prize for a Tournament was such a big deal. Bisharp bred poorly in captivity due to their want of a pack and land, which meant that this one was most likely captured. Scorch was primed and ready to defend him if anything happened, but he doubted it, which was the only reason he hadn't released her already. Pawniard had been less than aggressive the last time it had been released, surrounded by hundreds of screaming people and no one familiar around, and they weren't normally _angry_ pokemon, per se. They were steel types. If a problem wasn't directly in front of them, they ceased to worry about it.

Pawniard stared around curiously as it was released. Almost immediately, its golden eyes flashed up to Ash's face, pupils too large and leaking trickles of energy. Ash gritted his teeth against the unfamiliar touch in his mind and returned the stare. After a moment, Pawniard nodded again, energy retreating.

It pressed its blades together over its chest, drawing the tips together to form a point, and formally nodded its head in a manner similar to a bow. Ash, a little confused, did his best to mimic the motion. Pawniard hissed, golden eyes burning. Ash frowned, pulling up out of the bow, and Pawniard nodded its head again.

"No bowing for me?" He guessed. Pawniard seemed confused by his confusion but screeched an affirmative.

"Okay then," he mumbled, dropping his arms. Pawniard did the same, still staring at him with unblinking eyes.

"Are you okay with being on my team?" Ash asked. Pawniard's eyes flicked to his belt, seeing the premier ball it was stuck in. But still, it nodded, no doubt in its gaze. It slammed the tips of its bladed arms together, creating a low, ringing sound.

Its golden eyes were focused but determined. Ash could feel - in that strange, thoughts in his head before he thought them sense that came with Trio pokemon - that Pawniard wanted to be on his team. It had that look in its eyes, the one he couldn't really describe but knew it was there all the same. Though it hadn't made the choice to be captured, it wasn't budging.

"I'm going to scan you, okay?" Pawniard nodded, blade catching the light. It seemed it already knew what a pokedex - or whatever its equivalent - was. He aimed the sensor at it, listening as it hummed to life.

 _Pawniard, the sharp blade pokemon. Blades compose this pokemon's entire body. If they are dulled by battle, it sharpens them with stones. During a hunt, it ignores injuries and attaches itself to its enemies when commanded._

 _This pawniard knows the moves scratch, fury cutter, feint attack, metal claw, metal sound, brick break, and thunder wave. Its ability is inner focus, which cuts down on internal distractions while in battle_.

Ash grinned. Two TMs, both ones that could seriously assist Pawniard's natural fighting strategy. He flicked through his pokemon's page - male.

"Okay, Pawniard." The dark type never removed his gaze. "I want to see you use your moves. Are you okay with that?"

Pawniard didn't wait so much as a heartbeat before nodding. Ash hid his frown - every other of his pokemon had at least shown signs of disobeying when he first caught them - and let his eyes return to the movepool list. "Aim for the boulder there, and use metal claw."

He immediately charged forward, tearing into the ground with his bladed feet. Pawniard kicked off with a screech, reaching a peak of nearly double his height, and slammed into the boulder like a meteorite. The rock shuddered and cracked, the blades on Pawniard's chest stabbing through to attach himself.

Ash blinked. Pawniard was entirely secured on the boulder, blades cutting furiously onto its rough surface from his position of nearly four feet off the ground. He showed no signs of stopping until Ash called his name.

He immediately stopped, trying and failing to twist around to look at his trainer. "You can come down," Ash offered, a little stunned.

Pawniard grunted, placing the tips of his blades against the boulder. Glowing dully with metal claw, he managed to remove himself, leaving behind four massive cracks from his ribs. He screeched proudly at the immense furrows his blades had left.

Ash couldn't help the low whistle that escaped his mouth. It seemed that the pokedex entries hadn't lied - his strategy would be to attach himself to opponents and attack until they were unconscious. "Can you show me fury cutter?" When Pawniard made a movement to charge again, Ash quickly corrected him. "Without attacking. Just the energy."

Pale lime green energy crept over one of his arms. Pawniard screeched in frustration and slammed his blades together, forcing the energy to leech onto the other. His gaze flicked back up to Ash, displaying the bug move proudly. Using the energy that disrupted his natural aura seemed difficult for him, but it was clear he could still wield it.

"Thunder wave."

Pawniard screeched, lowering both his arms and dispelling fury cutter. The blade on his head crackled with electricity, throwing yellow light over his armor. He looked toward the boulder and released it. The electricity crackled directly into the hole the metal claws had left, erupting with a spark like a flashbang.

Ash grinned. It was obvious he had practiced that one, along with most of his moves. He had the exact determination that Ash liked to see on his team. Scratch, metal claw, and brick break were pretty basic, and he didn't want to deafen himself with metal sound.

"You're awesome," he said, grin only growing. Pawniard let out a pleased shriek, raising the hair on the back of Ash's neck. Despite the positive emotion behind it, it was still a dangerous sound. He paused, remembering what he had forgotten previously. "Would you like a nickname?"

Pawniard paused, letting one final spark fly off of his blade. He stared up at Ash with a blankly curious expression. He was nearly impossible to get a read on, but Ash was able to pick up the basics after spending so much time with Karma.

"A name. Like mine is Ash. It's what people call you to separate you from others of your species."

His eyes lit up. Pawniard made a jerking motion, concentrating, before lifting one bladed arm to gesture at his ribs. Ash took a moment to get it, eyes narrowing as Pawniard tried again to mime it.

"Chest?" Pawniard screeched. "Your name is Chest?" The dark type nodded, thumping his blades together. Ash guessed it made sense. In the wild, each pawniard had their own position to perform - distraction, attachment, and perimeter. If it was Pawniard's job to attach to the chest of their hunt, it'd make it easier for him to just be called that. "Do you want to keep Chest as your name?"

Pawniard paused, narrowing his eyes. They were still unsettling in a way similar to Wraith's blood and Karma's pitch, the feeling of wrongness as his natural aura leaked outward. After a moment, he made an off, robotic movement Ash interpreted as a shrug.

"Something else, then," Ash said, thinking. Pawniard shrugged again. "Chestplate?" He winced a second later. That was nearly as bad as the original. Thankfully, Pawniard didn't seem to like it much.

"Armor then, or Blade?" Both were rejected, and Ash guessed he was going too far into the inanimate. "Sentinel. Guard? Or what about Knight?" Pawniard hissed.

Ash frowned - now he was too far into a minor part of Pawniard's being - and tried again. He didn't seem to like strictly dark type names - like Void, Noct, or Arcane - and any steel name not directly correlated to weapons were ignored. Ash figured this would be more a Karma-based name than something like Gale or Scorch. A piece of information wiggled outward from the barren research he had done on Unova.

"You're from Unova, right?" Pawniard paused, tilting his head, before he understood and screeched. "They have a game there, one created after your species and how you work. There are a bunch of pieces on the board, all protecting one important piece. Would you like a name from that?" Pawniard made another odd motion. Ash ran through everything he had read about the game - he couldn't even remember the name, though he knew it was similar to the shogi Indigo played frequently - and came up with a few. "Pawn. Bishop. Rook?"

Pawniard screeched at the last one, blades clanging against each other. He nodded his domed head, blade nearly catching Ash's leg before he stepped back. The dark type seemed apologetic, but he brushed it off.

"Rook, then," Ash reiterated, trying out the name. It fit. Rook's eyes flashed, pleased, and he dragged his blades across each other. The metal claw, though greatly weakened, still clawed at Ash's ears and he winced, causing Rook to immediately stop. The dark type stood back a step, eyes flashing. The scar in Ash's mind he had guessed was Rook's presence twanged before fading away.

It was curious, feeling the different Trio aspects of his brain interact. Wraith's shadow was the closest to what Ash knew was, well, Ash, wrapped around his brain in a cloak of foggy memories. Karma's stain was somewhere in the back, full of bright colors and various words no matter whether she was communicating with him or not. Rook's scar was settling near the forefront, adjusting much faster than the others. Ash was far from naturally good at describing things, so he didn't really know how to ask Professor Oak about them, but it was comforting to be able to reach out to his friends. Although he did find himself getting annoyed with Rook's frequent curious proddings.

Rook, from what he had seen, was a generally inquisitive pokemon. He had explored what parts of Ash's mind were available, and when he had finished with that, had started into the other areas before Ash reined him back. He didn't want the dark type poking around without showing him off to Wraith and Karma yet - he didn't know how they'd react to another Trio pokemon.

Time to find out.

"Rook, it's time to meet your pack," Ash said, tapping along the pokeballs on his waist. Immediately, the pawniard straightened, jabbing his blades toward the ground and staring up at Ash. He deliberated for a moment before releasing Rhydon first.

The ground type rumbled his arrival. He nearly made a move to hunch over before he caught sight of his newest teammate, instantly snapping into a powerful, upright position. Ash hid his laugh in the quirk of his lips. Rhydon stared down at the dark type and rumbled a question. Rook screeched back, doing a careful half-bow, but he didn't make the point he did with Ash.

Rhydon, once he had finished introducing himself, stomped over to Ash. He moved carefully in order to avoid upsetting the jagged lines of stone-keratin over his back. His spines were far from reformed, and he wouldn't be able to do much of anything for a fair while.

Ash released the last of his pokemon all at once. Scorch barked warmly, basking in the heat of the day, but her scarlet gaze flashed to Rook after another moment. She rose to her full height, tails forming a golden backdrop, but when Rook didn't do anything but stare curiously she accepted him. With a yip, she padded over to Ash, pausing only once to sniff the dark type. Judging by her expression, steel types didn't have much of a smell.

Bulbasaur growled at him, prompting a screech in return. She blinked crimson eyes at him, accepting whatever answer it had been. Though she immediately walked over to paw at a magma larch, she didn't seem wary of the dark type, which was always a good thing.

Surprisingly, Gale had the biggest reaction. Rook visibly perked up when he saw the raptor, though he stayed in his quiet posture. Gale seemed pleased, flaring his crest and shrieking, but he did extend his enormous wingspan and let Rook admire it. Ego well-stoked, the fearow walked as carefully as he could over to perch on a fallen trunk.

Wraith and Karma stayed back at first. They slowly moved to partially encircle Rook, forming a sort of triangle amongst the three of them. Gold eyes met pitch met blood. Ash could _feel_ the air thicken, natural auras condensing as they brushed against others.

There was a reason that the Mind Arts Trio was rare to see and rarer to train. They were often incredibly smart, giving them the well-deserved reputation of ditching trainers that didn't train them right - or that they simply didn't like. And then there was the mental effect they had on their trainers. Ash had gotten off lucky. Wraith had taken a while to fully create his layer of defenses, allowing Ash's mind to adjust, and by the time Karma had joined his team, he had been prepared enough to handle her. And now, handling one fully-evolved pokemon and another vicious ghost, he was ready for the final third.

That didn't mean it would be easy. Karma and Wraith, as close as they were, periodically got into spats involved around their territories in his mind. Wraith, while on watch, would occasionally flare his powers whenever he sensed a presence entering their ground, which would wake Karma and cause her to retaliate. Normally, Ash could defuse the situation, but they were only growing more powerful. Adding another pokemon to the mix, one that was naturally superior to the two others, would create problems.

After a long moment, Wraith's eyes flashed and he nodded. Rook straightened, clanging his blades together. Karma followed after, raising her shine. The ghostly fog and mirage of colors faded away, letting the darkened river of Rook's presence creep forward. He felt like he was getting a bit presumptuous with the names for their presences, but he ignored it for now. He was allowed to be dramatic.

Ash winced as they moved around in his mind, creating boundaries and establishing things he couldn't understand. It was painful to have all three active at once, his head being forcibly inflated to match the presences of the beings inside. Karma's powers flared as Rook got too close, prompting another wave of discomfort.

But right before he was going to ask them to pause to let him recover, they stopped, drawing out. They stared at each other quietly before Wraith broke it, drifting away to go talk to Bulbasaur. Karma's eyes flashed once more as she looked at Rook but she left as well.

Ash sighed and leaned against Rhydon's side, looking up at his starter. The ground type rumbled quietly, watching the dark type. "Just wait until you see him in action," he mumbled. "I can't wait to see him battle."

Rook's golden eyes flicked back to Ash but he didn't go towards him, instead heading over to Gale. He seemed fascinated by the flying type, which Gale smugly accepted with a proud display of his wings again.

Ash let the dark type explore around his team, taking more time to meet them and learn the ways of his pack. He had accepted being captured even easier than Karma, which was saying a lot.

Speaking of the psychic, Ash detached himself from his starter with a grunt and headed toward her. She perked her ears as she approached, deflating her psionic bubble slightly to be on eye level with him.

It was still incredibly strange to see her now as an alakazam after spending his entire journey with her so far as a kadabra. Her mustache twitched as she stared at him, twirling her shine through her more dexterous fingers.

She only had one, and it was now too small for her, but Ash had earned plenty of money in the Tournament and with the sizable amount he had been collecting from all of his battles, he didn't have to worry. And having too small of a shine wasn't something that would keep her from battling - it was still more power than not having one at all. Still. Her shine looked tiny in her new claws.

"You're going to need a lot of silver," Ash faux-groaned. Karma's eyes flashed and Ash only just managed to feel his hat float smoothly off his head. "Hey!"

Rook perked up at the sound of his raised voice, trotting over mid-conversation with Scorch. The fire type seemed miffed, watching him closely. He arrived at Ash's side, reaching outward with one blade to poke at his trainer's leg. Ash managed to avoid it, dancing out of the way of the weapon sharp enough to skewer him.

"Not a bisharp," Ash corrected. Still, he formed the point with his hands, causing Rook to release a pleased screech and nod his head again.

There was a journey to go, but he could already see Rook becoming a present and welcome figure on their team. He smiled, reaching down to tap the dark type on his domed head. Rook seemed partially confused but accepted it, reaching out to touch Ash's leg again.

Ash sighed and stepped away again. It felt like he would be doing that a lot.

xXx

The Seagallop Ferry's bright red lines were nearly hidden by the swaths of people over the dock. Ash tried his best to fight his way through before eventually giving in and just hanging back, letting the majority of the passengers pass. It wasn't like they could take his cabin.

Though there wasn't much to take. His room was even tinier than the one he had when he arrived on Cinnabar, which meant it was enormously cramped. Rhydon's horn would scrape the ceiling if he stood fully up, so he decided to finish healing from his battle against Snorlax by curling up into an angry ball of spikes and armor next to Ash's bed. Wraith never removed himself from Ash's shadow, regaining his energy in the easiest way. Scorch occasionally left his room, but she disliked the spray of saltwater more than any other pokemon on Ash's team, and so spent most of her time taking over Ash's bed. Bulbasaur had begrudgingly teamed up with Gale - she didn't want to be stuck in the cabin room, but she also didn't trust any of the sailors, and Gale was the only one that left the room regularly. She settled for sprawling out on the highest point of the ship, watching Gale swoop overhead against the currents of the air.

Ash had to catch himself from heading out every day to release Tide into the sea, which was another ball of guilt in his chest.

Rook stayed by his side, carefully avoiding his shadow in order to not bother Wraith. The pawniard seemed fascinated by the world around him. Ash guessed that he had gone straight from being captured in the Unovan wildlands to being trained up for the Tournament, which exposed him very little to the world beyond his homeland. Every time he saw a new water type leap above the white crests of waves he would flash with metal claw, ready to attack no matter the fact they were an ocean away, and Ash could have fun reining him back in. Even though Rook's scar was quiet and settled, the dark type's natural reaction to anything he saw as either a threat or prey made him seem on edge for everything.

But he wasn't the only one.

By the time the first day had passed, there was an aggressive paranoia surrounding practically everything Ash did. It wasn't him - having Wraith check the hallway before he left the room was decidedly not his style - but instead the atmosphere.

Every sailor was on a knife's edge. Their white uniforms were ironed to perfection at all times, hair constantly pulled back, even their expressions seemingly coordinated; but there was something tangible in their wariness, covering the ferry like a present thing. It only served to make Ash more twitchy, which he tried to combat by walking around. Most of the time, it didn't work.

Dozens of pokemon were on a constant rotating patrol. Endless flying types thundered overhead, unblinking eyes staring out from the honckrow's nest. Sleek, blue-white forms surrounded the ship, barely visible for more than a second. He had even seen a strange, cloud-like pokemon with an unstable body and wide, blinking eyes. The sailor had called it a castform, and then he had recognized it - another man-made pokemon, used for altering the weather. That explained, at least, the week of beautiful blue skies even as thunder growled in the distance.

Ash sighed, leaning further over the railing. Most everyone was staying inside their cabins, so that even though the ship was incredibly packed, he rarely saw another person not wearing the white of the sailors. Even though the ones he talked to had been friendly enough, he couldn't shake the prickle on the back of his neck whenever he saw them.

He hated that, hated how everything seemed to make him jump these days. Rook had been a solid presence by his side, unflinchingly quiet and curious about everything. The dark type was entirely collected, much more than Ash's other pokemon. Maybe collected wasn't quite the right word, but it was what fit him. He tried to attack anything he saw, whether it was an enormous pidgeot flying a hundred feet overhead or a stowaway meowth chasing a beam of light, but it never took more than a mental prod to the scar in Ash's mind before he returned. When he wasn't trying to haul various treasures back to his trainer, he was by his side, absorbing everything with golden eyes.

Rook hissed, watching the water. Though it was tossed up in waves by the hull of the ship, burning lights were clearly visible through the blue. The sailors had a small pod of lanturn swimming alongside them. A few times a day Ash could hear the crackle of electricity as they chased away anything that came within their territory.

"Any idea what's going on?" He asked. Rook looked up at him, confused. "Everyone's just tense." Ash settled his elbows on the railing, watching the toss and roar of the waves. In the distance, he knew, there was Muryo Bay. Though they had long since passed the point where they could see the Fuschia Peninsula, one of the sailors had told him where the Bay was.

Rook made a screeching sound Ash took as agreement. "Yeah." He paused, glancing down at the dark type. "I think you'll like Pallet Town. Lots of room to run around, and new pokemon to meet - _not_ hunt." He couldn't help the grin that passed over his face. "But you'll like traveling even better."

The pawniard grunted as the antenna of a lanturn appeared above the waves, glaring at it fiercely. Ash bit down a chuckle and watched Rook pace on the edge of the boat, wanting to dive in but not quite knowing a way there.

Only a day more. Another shiver crept down his spine from nowhere but he shoved it aside, focusing on his newest friend.

xXx

Pallet Town was just as he remembered.

Still moving on unsteady legs, Ash clambered up the last few stone steps that led off the docks. His back popped and he winced, dragging his arms up to stretch under the burning sun.

Only a few people had gotten off with him - most of the passengers were staying on to be deposited at either the Seafoam Islands or Fuschia City, Ash couldn't really remember. He walked slower to let them pass, wanting a bit of privacy to release his team.

It took him longer than normal to readjust to walking on a solid surface, twisting around and not-quite flailing as he stumbled up the path, but his feet remembered eventually and led the way. Once he was out of sight of the docks, he clicked the releases on his pokeballs.

Scorch yawned, exposing her fangs, and peered around at the team. Rhydon returned her gaze, begrudgingly calling back the weakened earth power he had been about to release - he took being on a boat, separate from the earth, harder than any of the others. She snorted out a plume of flame, ears perked in amusement.

Gale shrieked happily, stretching outward. Bulbasaur snarled and walked away from him, pointedly ignoring the flying type. But even she growled warmly at the grass, pawing at blades poking through the dirt. Wraith hissed, reaching down to tap lightly on her head. She churred, but stayed focused on the partially trampled wildflower a little ways away.

Wraith and Karma were decidedly unaffected from being on the boat, and before long, Ash tapped into Karma's new mental power to plan a straight path back to Pallet Town. His team shook out the last of their aches and sores and plodded alongside him, sluggish in the noon heat.

Pallet was comforting in the same way of hearing Professor Oak or his mom's voice over a videophone was. It brought back memories of summer days climbing trees, or chasing horsea through ponds at the Lab, or making poffins as the sun slipped below the horizon. No one was out - it was noon on a weekday, after all - and Ash appreciated the quiet as he walked through the streets. But there was still the chirp of pidgey and the skitter of rattata, and it made the town feel less empty.

He found himself in front of his house faster than before. The lights weren't on but the house looked the same, at least beyond a few new flower bushes out front. Stepping up to the door, Ash steeled himself. It had been a few months since he had seen her. Though he'd called her consistently with every new city he reached, it had been too long since he'd seen her face to face. Rhydon grunted, tapping Ash's back, and he sighed. Shaking off the worst of his nervousness, he raised his fist and knocked. A minute went by. He tried again, but it garnered the same response.

"Can you see what's going on in there?" He asked, tapping his foot against the ground. Wraith hissed in response, pulling himself upward from Ash's shadow. He moved forward, ectoplasmic skin thinning before he passed through the wall. Ash reached down and stroked behind Scorch's ears, earning a pleased purr. She angled her head to let him have better reach.

An explosion of gases trickled through the cracks in the door, dark purple and writhing. Wraith reformed with a bang, poison dripping from his fangs and spines stabbing against the air. His howl was vicious. Ash tensed, all of his pokemon surging to attention, and opened his mouth to bark a command.

With a click, the door opened. Ash sprang backward, hands falling to his hips. He readied something - _anything_ \- before stopping. "Mimey?"

The mr. mime made a cheerful sound, bobbing his head. He dissipated the dazzling gleam held in one of his wide, spotted hands and made another sound in Ash's direction, voice chittering in the way he did to ask questions.

He couldn't help the smile that spread over his face, even as Rhydon worked to restrain the furious Wraith in the background. "Hey, Mimey. We're just checking in. Is Mom home?"

The psychic type shook his head, gaze pulled back to the hissing haunter, before moving his hands in a good mimicry of walking. "She's out. At the restaurant?" Ash paused - he had been so sure it was the weekend. "Wait, what day is it?"

Mimey shook his head, making the motion again. "Traveling?" Another cheerful sound. "Okay."

The mr. mime made a movement to step forward, smile still wide and eyes cheerful. Ash jerked as Wraith's mental defenses rose, spitting, and Mimey immediately stopped. Ash turned to stop the ghost but Wraith was far from done. The psychic type watched with some level of boredom as the poisonous gases that made up Wraith leaked into the air, eyes bright.

"No," Ash demanded. The haunter had the gall to look offended, releasing more poison, but Mimey easily vibrated his fingers and trapped all of the gas into several large, transparent bubbles. He sent them upward, popping them a safe distance away from everyone. "Wraith, shadow or I'm recalling you. He's not a threat - he's my mom's pokemon, and he only attacked you because you got onto his territory. Right?"

Mimey made an affirmative sound, twitching his blue prongs. Wraith hissed again but sank into Ash's shadow, bloody eyes glaring upward.

Rook wasn't much better, but it seemed that Gale managed to catch him with a wing before he could charge at his natural enemy of a fairy type. The pawniard screeched, but subsided with a glance from Ash.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. Mimey shrugged, chittering. With a wave of psychic energy, he gestured toward where Ash knew the lab was. "I'm about to head on over there. Are you holding down the house?" A cheerful nod. "I'll be back tonight," he promised. Mimey chittered again, stepping back. He waved and closed the door with another burst of energy, leaving Wraith to grumble in Ash's shadow.

"Don't you remember him from the first time we came over?" Ash demanded. From Wraith's annoyed expression, he did. "I doubt he's that strong but you can't just expect to win every battle. He had every right to pop you for entering his house unannounced. I'm sorry for asking you to do that, but you're fine, right?"

Wraith hissed, but his pride wouldn't let him admit anything, and he settled for collapsing deeper into the murk. Scorch sniffed, dispelling her flash fire and relaxing her battle stance. The ninetales shook out her flowing crest, stepping casually on Ash's shadow as she walked back toward the street. Wraith wailed annoyance in Ash's mind.

The walk wasn't far, and the view was nice. Pallet Town was full of gardens and roads lined with trees, and Bulbasaur loved exploring the more exotic flowers, purchased for their beauty, that couldn't be found in the wild. Gale was forced to make constant wide loops in order to keep on pace with everyone else, but he squawked commentary to Rook with every pass, earning himself rapturous attention.

Ash let the sun run its fingers over his arms, pulling off his jacket. The end of summer was approaching but autumn didn't want to arrive just yet, letting the warmth of the season wash over him. It would soon be the Welcoming of the First, though he didn't know exactly when, but when that holiday arrived that meant that winter wasn't far behind. Tide might enjoy it - Ash, and the rest of his team, would decidedly not. Kanto didn't get nearly as cold as Sinnoh, but the difference from summer to winter was obvious.

The lab was still the same as he always remembered. Two enormous oak trees, ones that Professor Oak had always taken incredible care of, marked the entrance to the white building. Ash touched one of them, tracing the long-since illegible words carved into the bark. He turned back to his team.

"Can you guys go find Tide?" He asked, trying to figure out where the sealeo could be. "Gale, around the ponds, and Rhydon, near the back entrance of the lab. Karma, maybe near the forest? Scorch, Wraith, come with me. Rook, stay with Rhydon until I call for you. Bulbasaur, do you want to come in or stay outside?"

Her expression said it all, focusing on the oak trees and yellow flowers - lilies, he thought - planted around their bases. Ash bit back a chuckle. "Alright."

Rhydon rumbled, tapping Ash's shoulder with one claw before turning to face the fields. He had missed Tide, though the sealeo's constant attempts to bait him into battle were annoying. Ash had caught him staring at the water through the tiny window in their cabin, searching for a blue figure he knew wouldn't be there.

Karma raised her shine, a moment of annoyance flashing over her eyes before she managed to shove her power through the silver and teleport out. Gale squawked, twisting his head to look down at Rook. The dark type screeched back, pleased, and the fearow wasted no time in taking off. In seconds, he was a mere blip in the sky.

Rhydon and Rook lumbered off, heading for the fields in the back. Bulbasaur investigated the oak trees. Ash smiled, patting Scorch's head, and headed toward the entrance to the lab.

There wasn't anyone to answer the door, but it was already unlocked, and Ash was pretty sure that the professor knew him well enough not to mind he had let himself in. "Professor Oak?" Ash asked, poking his head around the door. The lab was quiet, one small device beeping softly in the corner. He didn't see anyone. Pushing the door open the rest of the way, he walked in, reaching down idly to pet Scorch's head. She yipped, eyes burning with blue with extrasensory as she searched through the lab. After a moment, she nosed toward a door in the back.

Through it, Ash found Professor Oak slumped over a desk, typing on a tablet with one hand and poking at a strangely shaped pokeball with the other. He didn't notice as Ash stepped into the room, mumbling something distractedly to himself as he worked.

Ash cleared his throat. That illitected a confused grunt. "Professor Oak?"

The man sprang to attention, dropping his tablet. "Eh?" His tired eyes lit up. "Ash!"

"Hullo, Professor Oak," Ash said, grinning. "Thought I'd pop in."

"With no prior notice, I see." He sighed, grabbing his tablet from where it had fallen. Tapping along a few buttons to close whatever program he had opened up, he set it next to the pokeball and turned to fully face Ash, a smile over his face. "How was Cinnabar?"

"Brilliant." Ash raised his eyebrows at the professor. "I managed to find the real gym in the Mansion - does no one talk about how Blaine left the main gym behind?"

Professor Oak rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling a bit ruefully. "Well, the League agreed to keep it on the quiet in honor of Blaine's request. He has made so few during his time as both a member of the Elite Four and as a gym leader, so it was given to him."

"That makes sense, I guess." He thought back to the gaudy Volcano Gym, the silence of the Mansion. "And the Tournament was even better."

"And you won, I assume?" Professor Oak ribbed, a grin over his face.

Ash held out for a moment, making worried noises, before he grinned widely and nodded. "Yeah. It was really hard," he admitted. Scorch flicked one of her tails, ears perked. "The Finals pushed me to the limit. Derrick took out two of my pokemon with his one and it was only Karma evolving that managed to save that match."

Professor Oak frowned. "Oh?"

"His snorlax was crazy powerful. Took out both Gale and Rhydon, but Karma beat his sandslash and tentacruel." Ash grinned. "But that's how I got Rook. And, using the money, I'm going to buy enough silver to give Karma an army of shines."

The man's expression didn't clear, but he caught onto the unfamiliar word. "Rook?"

"He's a pawniard, straight from Unova," Ash said. "He's strong, too."

Professor Oak's eyes lit up. "A pawniard!"

"Yeah." Ash grinned, tapping along the white pokeball. "I haven't done much training yet - just checking out his moves and spending some time with him, but he's got a ton of potential. He's already set up boundaries with Wraith and Karma, and they seem to be holding so far." He paused. "I'm worried about him, though. He doesn't disobey or even hesitate to do anything I tell him. It's like he doesn't have any free will."

Professor Oak sighed. "I'm afraid you're just going to have to work with him. Pawniard are entirely pack pokemon - in the wild, if his leader bisharp told him to do something, the only moment he wouldn't be doing so is the moment it takes for him to point himself in the right direction. You're going to have to be the one to keep him in check. If you put him in a battle and tell him to win, he'll kill himself to do it. They're incredibly loyal, but their self-preservation leaves much to be desired." He mumbled something Ash couldn't hear, tapping his fingers along his thigh. "They're not completely nocturnal, but I'd suggest that you let him sleep in more and train later in order to give him at least a partial experience of dusk to dawn. And give him constant training around his dark typing."

"That makes sense," he said. "We wouldn't effect the schedule too much - Karma already needs more sleep than everyone else, even with her evolution, so I'll just change the times around."

Professor Oak hummed thoughtfully. "May I meet him?"

Ash prodded the scar in his mind, hiding his wince as Wraith's defenses rose, hissing, before falling back. There was a screech from the distance, pulling Professor Oak's eyes to the still-open door. Scorch stepped away from it, scarlet eyes flashing with amusement, and Wraith pulled himself further into Ash's shadow.

Rook appeared, tearing through the doorway and glowing with metal claw. He ground to a halt, still thrumming with steel energy and baring his blades, but Ash flicked him on his domed head and he calmed. He blinked up at the professor, ax catching the light like a beacon.

His smile was wide. "Pawniard are very powerful pokemon. And I see you've completed the Trio - are you having any problems with that?"

"No." Ash shook his head, but glanced down at Rook. "Wraith makes up most of my defenses, but he's learning to not activate whenever Rook reacts to me. Karma just stays away most of the time, and they've got a nice truce set up. They're both following the boundaries, though. I _am_ planning on nicking some of Mom's stash of headache pills."

Professor Oak seemed slightly confused. Most were, whenever Ash tried to explain how it felt to have three other beings in his head beyond just himself. They weren't constantly present - he didn't have the same connection that, say, Sabrina had with her famed alakazam, and he wouldn't be able to get that. He had already shared his mental space with others, and there wasn't a way now that he could limit it to just one. Besides, he was fine with having slightly weaker connections - he couldn't imagine sharing every thought.

There was a pause, the professor's gaze flicking up to fix onto Ash's. "And how are you doing?" Professor Oak asked, more quietly. "The Jobane Storage Base has been completely shut down, and three more Team Rocket members have been caught when they tried to return. Gideon has been locked up, and Viper's pokemon are being rehabilitated, including his… charizard." The man looked away for a second.

Ash sighed. "I'm doing better. I doubt I'll enjoy battling any other charizards, though." His attempt at a joke lightened the mood. "Bulbasaur's fine, too. Her and Wraith are really close. She even agreed to do some light training exercises, just in case."

A smile crinkled his eyes. "Wonderful."

"Where's Mom?" Ash asked, the thought returning and rather desperate for a change of topic. "She wasn't home, and Mimey couldn't really answer."

"Ah." Professor Oak looked away for a split second. "Delia is visiting the Shamouti Islands currently, she left a few days ago and isn't scheduled to return for another week."

Ash frowned. She had mentioned the Islands before, but he didn't think they had any relatives or friends there. "A vacation?"

"Not quite. Are you aware of their annual festival?" At Ash's nod, he continued. "Well, your mother has much experience in growing hibiscus flowers, and the island natives are having trouble with the soil quality, and I recommended her to them. From what her intinerary was, she's going to have some fun, too."

"But haven't they been growing those for decades?"

Professor Oak shrugged. "Weather changes, issues with water purity, other things. The Islands aren't very connected to any of the main regions, so they don't have the technology we do. Delia is helping them this year, but they've managed all those before."

Ash's frown deepened before he accepted it. "Any chance I could call her?"

"Very little coverage - they don't have a League-trained psychic to bond phones, so at best they can manage are calls between islands." Professor Oak looked closer at him. "How long are you planning on staying here?"

"Only a few days. I want to train a bit, but I'm going to rechallenge Sabrina." A bit of a sheepish grin appeared over his face. "I've been pretty lax recently, and my team needs some new moves. So I'm stopping at Celadon to buy a bunch of TMs before I hit Saffron. With all I've been saving and the Tournament winnings, I should have plenty of cash."

A smile crossed the professor's face. "Good choice, my boy. Well, you're welcome to use my fields for your training, and I'm sure Arcanine would not mind more spars against your sealeo."

Ash grinned. "Thanks. I'm going over to my house for a bit- wait." The thought appeared with rushing certainty. "Who's been taking care of her garden?"

The Ketchum family garden was one of his mom's most prized possessions, having been started before he was even born and kept in prime condition throughout the years. She couldn't eat all of the food it produced and so she donated some to the restaurant she worked at, which had actually scored her a promotion a few years back. Even though autumn was fast approaching, it should still have been up and running, and Ash hadn't seen any signs of a gardener.

Professor Oak stiffened. He fidgeted with the corner of his lab coat before releasing a soft breath. "Cascade."

"Cascade?"

The man nodded, turning away. "Yes. Ash, I'm afraid I've got to go and do a touch more research, but if you need anything, please come back to the lab. My battlefields are yours if you need them."

Professor Oak picked up his tablet again and faced his pokeball - which Ash distantly realized looked more like a fruit than metal - tapping the remains of his previous sentence out. Ash recognized the dismissal for what it was and said goodbye, turning to leave. Rook swung around to match his stride, Scorch padding next to him. Wraith paused to fix the professor with a curious glance before melting back into the shadows. He couldn't quite understand the man's sudden switch in tone.

But when they went outside, Ash was greeted with a familiar blue form, barking excitedly at Rhydon. A grin snapped over his face. "Tide!"

The sealeo turned abruptly, barking. He spat out a powder snow and flew toward Ash, whiskers twitching as he stopped himself a moment before he slammed into his trainer's chest. Ash laughed, kneeling down to be on eye level. He had missed the ice type dearly. "Hey, Tide. You all healed up?"

He snorted, as if to say _of course_. There was the darkened skin that spoke of a still-healing bruise over his chest, but Tide barely seemed to notice it, and Ash knew it was safer to trust Tide's reactions than to wonder whether any pain had managed to get past his incredibly thick fat.

"Tide, this is Rook," Ash said, gesturing the dark type at his side. "He's a new member of our team now. Rook, Tide."

The pawniard screeched, dragging his blades across each other. Tide didn't react to the sound, instead responding with a low bark that was downright friendly for him. Still, he looked at the dark type's blades a little too closely. Being pent up in Professor Oak's lab probably hadn't done much to stave off his desire to fight.

"Want to talk to everyone?" Tide nodded. "I'm going to check on the house, see who's taking care of the garden. Rhydon, could you catch Tide up on everything? And- where's Karma?"

His starter rumbled, pointing a dull claw toward the lab. He made a sort of crooning noise that took Ash a moment to decipher. "Got it, Professor Oak's alakazam. How long have they been talking?"

Rhydon shrugged his massive shoulders, horn spinning idly. "Alright." He turned his attention back to Tide. "Catch up with everyone, alright? I'll be back shortly. Bulbasaur, I'm going to be looking at a garden - you want to come?"

The grass type perked up from where she had been growling at Tide, nodding her head. Wraith peeled out of Ash's shadow to talk to Tide, his annoyance at being popped by Mimey fading away. She growled at him before padding off to stand next to Ash, ready to go. A smile lit his features as he watched his team interact. Gale shrieked as Tide's icy breath rolled over his feathers - which seemed deliberate - and Rhydon sighed before lumbering forward to separate the fight.

Some things never changed.

It didn't take them any time at all to reach the house, now that Ash was curious about the garden. A few people had left their houses, but most were the daze of lunchtime, and Ash was able to skirt around running into any he knew.

The door was still locked and Mimey didn't answer, but that didn't matter. Bending down, he lifted the edge of a fern's pot and grabbed the narrow key underneath, quickly unlocking it. Ash pushed on the door, letting it pop open, before sliding the key back underneath the pot. He'd want to water the fern, too - he still didn't know who Cascade was supposed to be. Did they even know how her garden worked? His mom would be furious if she came back and everything was weak or dying. And why wasn't Mimey taking care of things?

The mr. mime wasn't there when he walked in. It seemed that since he knew Ash and his team weren't threats, he was off doing whatever he normally did. The psychic type knew the house and its defenses like the back of his hand and could easily watch from a distance. Ash didn't really know what he did when he wasn't defending them, but there wasn't anything to worry about.

His feet seemed to carry him where he wanted to go. The kitchen felt barren without his mom, so he went through the back door, reentering into the pleasant heat. He walked past the picnic table, grinning as he saw the area where Rhydon had gotten confused by the gate on the first day of their journey.

Bulbasaur investigated the grass like she normally did, but her gaze was much more drawn to the intense fence in the back half of the yard. Ash grinned, crossing the field quickly, and found the gate. She chased along after him.

He grunted, prying the latch from its stuck position. Ever since the rattata of Pallet Town had figured out that the Ketchum household grew a large number of berries, his mom had built a small fortress of a fence around them. Though Mimey had to chase off a few raticate, it had done its job well. Bulbasaur sniffed curiously as Ash pushed the gate open, crimson eyes going wide as she caught sight of the endless lines of green.

The garden was just as he remembered it. Rows of mulch, separated by layers of stone brick she had painstakingly laid by hand. In the corner, there was the small but deep pond that she used to water everything, still the same blue it had always been. Ash smiled, brushing his hand through the tamato plant. One of the berries - not ripe yet, according to the lack of the harder, spiky exterior they were known for - shuddered and nearly fell, but he pulled back his hand in time. "Stubs to nubs to spikes," he mumbled, age-old memories of his mom walking him through the field coming to the forefront. He narrowed in on a bluk bush, the outside peppered with tiny berries. "If it's red-blue, time to chew." He snorted - as a kid, he had thought that one was hilarious.

Bulbasaur reached out, poking at an exposed cheri. After a glance at Ash, she plucked it carefully, eating it in one bite. From her pleased growl, she enjoyed the minor spice.

"This is my mom's garden," Ash explained, walking toward the second row. "She tries to grow different berries every year, and she takes such good care of them all. I think I've only seen a few plants die here for all ten years of being around it." Bulbasaur nosed at the well-watered soil, bulb twitching.

It was a welcome walk down memory lane, and Ash found himself describing each new berry they came across in great detail. Each plant was properly cared for, though they hadn't been pruned in a while, and any nerves he had had about brown, weakly plants were gone. Bulbasaur dully accepted his rambles about why his mom didn't normally grow sitrus berries, choosing oran for the fact they grew on bushes instead of trees, though she didn't seem too invested.

Ash was wrapping up a grand tale about a push from the rattata pack when the tiny pond flickered, something moving beneath its surface. Bulbasaur immediately sprang in front of Ash, releasing her vines to whip above her head. A growl split the air.

Blue spikes stabbed up from the water. Burning scarlet eyes and a matching gem emerged, narrowly focused on the two in the field. It rose fully from the water, droplets falling off of its feathers, and stepped onto the shore. Ash felt as taut as a bowstring.

The golduck was enormous, easily seven feet tall, and it carried itself in the way that spoke of power. It quacked low in its throat, but even as Bulbasaur snarled a challenge and let her vines dance above, there was no attack from the water type. It glared over the garden but didn't move. Ash paused - the soil was watered. It was taken care of. "Cascade?"

It turned to him, nodding its angular head shortly. Bulbasaur stopped, just as confused as he was. Cascade. He knew for a fact this wasn't one of his neighbor's pokemon, if only for how he knew he would have been constantly trying to play with it as a kid, and none of his mom's friends had ever had a golduck. And certainly not one as strong as this one.

The garden. His mom's garden.

"Are you my mom's pokemon?" Ash asked. Cascade stared at him, gem flashing. It nodded again. Bulbasaur snarled, but Ash stepped in front of her. He needed to know. "Where have you been?"

Cascade didn't answer that one, turning away from Ash and Bulbasaur. It had apparently deemed them not a threat. Pausing for a second, it spat a water gun over a tamato plant and slipped back into the pond. Within seconds, it was invisible, blue feathers indistinguishable from the water.

Ash moved forward, walking toward the pond. Despite knowing that the enormous golduck had just gone into it, he couldn't see any signs of it, just rippling water. Bulbasaur snarled, uninjured vine coiling around her head.

"I don't think it's a threat," Ash said, calling her attention back to him. She growled back, but kept one narrowed eye on the pond. "Cascade." The name sounded strangely familiar on his tongue.

Bulbasaur snarled, but the garden was quiet, and there was nothing to answer her. Ash reached down to tap her head, keeping his touch short to avoid annoying her, and brushed some dirt off of his pants.

Cascade. Right in the pond he had spent his childhood around, maybe having been there the whole time. "Come on, let's head back." Bulbasaur churred, but stared at the garden with narrowed eyes for the entirety of the time it took for them to leave.

xXx

Ash couldn't stay. He wanted to, wanted to talk to his mom in person after the endless months of videophone calls, but there was an itch under his skin that urged him to go, to move. The last time he had been in this house, Will had been killed, and then his world had been uprooted. It wasn't Pallet Town's fault, it wasn't Professor Oak's, but something just made his skin crawl and heart ache.

His team gathered in front of him, curious. Though they had known what the next play was, he had called them here rather abruptly, and he really didn't have anything to say for himself.

"Hey, guys," Ash said, tucking his hands into his pockets. "It's time to travel again. But we can't all go."

Tide looked away, a bark dissipating from his throat. He had been unconscious for all but one day, but that one day had fully separated him from his pack. And now Ash was about to do that again to someone else.

"You'll be staying here with Professor Oak, in his lab, and when my mom gets back you can visit her, too." He forcibly strengthened his voice. "And you'd be training, don't think it's a rest break. Professor Oak's Gyarados would be willing to do some battling, and I know his Arcanine wouldn't mind helping you train. It'd only be for a week, then you'd come back."

His pokemon all looked at each other. Rhydon rumbled, spinning his horn, but he seemed to understand that Ash had to send one of them back, that there wasn't any other way out of it.

He had gotten a free pass with Bulbasaur. She was non-battling, sure, but it had probably only been Lance's command that had gotten him the extra slot specifically for her. He couldn't do that again for Rook and the others. When he thought about it like that, he could understand why some trainers just stopped. They caught their six, battled, then applied for a domestic trainer's pass and just stayed with their pokemon until the rest of their days. There were only a few ways to increase the carry limit on pokemon, and Ash decidedly did not have access to them.

Tide barked, flicking his whiskers furiously. He had already been left behind. Rook didn't make a sound but no one looked to him - he was the newest member, he had to have increased, specialized training to get up to the others' level. Karma's eyes flashed. She had just evolved, she was still struggling with her new power source. Wraith hissed, he-

Scorch barked and stepped forward. The others quieted behind her, watching the golden fox move forward.

"You sure, Scorch?" Ash asked, reaching out to stroke her behind the ears. She made a low-pitched whine, tails flicking down, but nodded. Her breath was hot against his chest. "I'll have Arcanine work on starting inferno with you. Maybe try to find another tail's meaning? And I'll buy you the best TM I can find." She yipped, tails popping sluggishly with embers. He smoothed her crest back.

"Everyone, get ready." His voice was tight, but he made himself relax. "I want to leave in an hour for Saffron, and we've got a lot to pack. Karma, Wraith, can you go grab some supplies from the house? Only the basics. Rhydon, keep everyone in line."

The ground type rumbled, stepping forward. Scorch chuffed warmly at him, saying goodbye. The rest of the team came forward. She neatly dodged Tide's powder snow, spitting an ember in reply. The sealeo grunted but his goodbye had been accepted. Rhydon patted her gently on the back, still working on restraining his strength. She yipped before turning back to Ash, eyes glowing with heat.

"Time to go," he offered. She inclined her head, tails swirling in a backdrop of gold. Ash gave one last look to the rest of his team and started to walk her back to the lab.

xXx

Route 1 welcomed him with the buzz of wild pokemon and the complaining creaks of maples versing wind. Rhydon's mere presence scared away any remaining pokemon the closeness to Pallet Town hadn't already done so, and even the glossy eyes Ash could see in the brush didn't do much other than blink.

The few trainers on Route 1 skirted around him, eyeing his collection of pokemon nervously. Rook got a few battles in, mainly against the more experienced, and he quickly learned about the basics. His style was pretty much exactly like Ash had predicted. If the pokemon was even a hair slower than him, he'd be attached in no time flat, and that ended the battle quickly.

Gale flew overhead, but he never strayed far from Ash under the trainer's request. Now that he was a fearow, he was a challenger to the original flock of the forest, no matter how he was no longer a part of it.

That was the issue with catching members of a flock - or pack, or herd, or pod, or anything like that. No matter how close they grew to their trainer, no matter how much they evolved, no matter how much they forgot the ways of the wild, their group didn't. Gale had confided in him, on one quiet night far, far away from Route 1, that he still knew the exact frequency to shriek in order to summon the entirety of his flock.

Ash knew he'd have to address Gale's connection to the flock eventually in order to be able to travel on Route 1 at all without worrying about random attacks in the middle of the night, but he was relying on his speed this journey to avoid any complications. And they were booking it - on his first trip, it had taken him the lower side of three days. This time, two. He avoided any hard training, focusing on getting out of the flock's territory before it found Gale.

He took one look at Viridian City and immediately took an alternative path, curving around the city on a lesser-known path on his way to find Route 17.

Ash wasn't _exactly_ taking the heavily-suggested routes. If he took those, it would take weeks to get to Saffron City, and he didn't want to waste those precious days. So instead, he'd be taking a hard left right out of Viridian City, picking up on Route 17 and heading toward Celadon. Hopefully, that would reduce the majority of his travel time.

There was something to be said of going through the gyms at the accepted paths - it reduced the traveling time significantly. He doubted either Gale or Karma would be strong enough to consistently transport him even by the Conference, so he just settled for traveling. It helped him train his team, anyway.

And stopping in Celadon let him do another thing - buying TMs and silver.

The silver was a given. Karma's current shine was a fraction of the size optional and she needed another one top of that. She could force her power through what she had now, but would reduce its strength instead of strengthening it, which was the opposite of what he wanted.

The TMs were different. His team had been doing fantastically recently, but their movepools weren't up to par. His fight against Blaine had shown him that Karma only had psychic attacking moves, and most of his team were stuck with their own typing. It was time to expand, as well as give some finishers. He stayed up every night with his pokedex, reading through each of their possible movesets and exploring which direction he wanted them to focus on next.

But other than traveling, researching, and relaxing, they were training. Sabrina wasn't going to defeat herself, and they had to rise to the occasion.

The team adapted to Rook surprisingly quickly. While on the ship, there hadn't been much interaction, but that couldn't be said anymore. Traveling through the grips of the forest had shoved them all closer, and it interesting to see how they moved with each other.

Rhydon was, perhaps, the only pokemon that could really touch Rook without worrying. Being made solidly of blades prevented the pawniard from touching anyone that wasn't a fellow steel type or protected in thick enough armor, given as he'd cause so much natural damage. Because of that, Rook enjoyed the ground type's company, and Rhydon was warming up to him quickly. The behemoth taught him the ways of his new pack, showing him their various night rituals and how training worked. Rook looked up to him, and it showed.

Tide didn't mind him, but the sealeo didn't really mind anyone. That wasn't to say he didn't get annoyed by Rook's actions; when the dark type attempted to treat everyone else as a pawniard and refused to acknowledge that they weren't, Tide was known to chase him off with a blast of powder snow. Still, though, he entertained Rook and helped him train on dodging aurora beams.

Wraith had mixed thoughts. Every one of his natural instincts, those same feelings that had been his only companion while under Team Rocket's care, fought against Rook's mere existence. But he wasn't another nameless pokemon in their ranks anymore, and he had ways to fight against the dark type. So he had taken to Rook with a sort of tentative truce, though the pawniard didn't seem to be aware there was any animosity between them. He enjoyed going incorporeal whenever Rook sought him out, watching the dark type's confusion from his untouchable state.

Bulbasaur didn't care much. Rook stayed out of her path after one too many snarls, but they held conversations commonly enough and respected each other. She still didn't interact nearly as much with her team as Ash would have liked, but it was a thousand times better than what she had been when he first caught her. She was excellent at parrying his blades away with her injured vine whenever he tried to touch her - to him, all pokemon in his pack were pawniard, and thus had the armor to match.

Karma was wary. His mere presence - a few feet outward, though he had gotten better at reining his natural aura in - weakened her to the point it was like a kadabra against an unevolved Wraith again, and she was loathe to bring back those stained memories. Rook wasn't aggressive toward her, but Ash could see the simplicity in which he used his powers, tainting the air around him and forcing Karma to either devote sufficient amounts of power to blast it away or retreat. That, coupled with the fact she had recently evolved and her hormone levels were all over the place, meant Ash was preparing for the attack that would inevitably come.

Gale, surprisingly, had taken Rook under his wing. Ash had seen hints of it - namely, the pawniard's fascination with flying - but hadn't seen how thoroughly it was coming along. Rook admired Gale's fighting strategy, the one practically the perfect counter to his own, and despite his general quiet state, the avian was able to unlock a battle-hungry attitude to nearly match his own.

Training was basically picking Karma's brain for anything he could use and then having her battle against the others, both to get them used to a psychic strategy as well as let her adjust to her new power levels. Ash had quickly realized that Sabrina wouldn't be a trainer he could muscle into a win - no, if he wanted to face her at her true strength, he'd have to bring everything he could.

He had learned much from challenging Sabrina so early. His first loss had forced him to confront the idea that he was the perfect battler, as well as find new ways to train his pokemon and break down parts of the rivalry between Rhydon and Gale. It had shown him how to augment Rhydon's natural strengths - charging - and make Gale understand how it felt to work toward a goal and demolish an enemy with it. Going to Saffron City had always let him capture Scorch, which he would be forever grateful toward.

But now he was going to rechallenge her again, against her full power and with his. He had grown from his first battle, and it was time to grow again.

xXx

Celadon City had the same overpowering aura to it, but Ash's sense of smell had greatly decreased since becoming a trainer after spending so much time around Wraith's poisonous gas and Bulbasaur's natural smell, and he found he didn't mind it nearly as much as he had last time. That didn't mean he couldn't smell it from at least a mile away.

A wall of pine and wildflower and mint encircled them like a trap, coming far too quickly for Ash to really adjust. Bulbasaur enjoyed it immensely, barely even investigating every new flower in her focus on the scent.

Ash settled for wishing he had one of those scarfs Koga had used in his gym battle and walked on, every ache and pain he had ignored so far over their journey springing to frustrating life. He'd be glad for the rest that night - he needed it. His team definitely needed it.

The dirt Route 7 faded away to stone bricks, the edges worn but only growing newer as he approached the bustling city. The buzz of thousands of people filled the air, each holding one pinprick of life amongst the universe. Ash let the roar of the city wash over him like a wave, adjusting the hem of his shirt. Wraith hissed and dove fully into his shadow. Tide was already recalled and everyone else soon followed, including Bulbasaur once Ash explained how many people would be out and about. Even Gale let himself be strongarmed into his pokeball.

Celadon City's gates beamed down at him, metal twisting as vines up the permanently open doors. There were only remains of the enormous wall that had once surrounded the greenlit city, ancient memories of a time long past. He knew there were various tours built around Celadon's previous wars, the most of any city in Kanto, given its position at the heart of the region. They were cool, but he wasn't nearly as interested as he had been at the Tohjo Falls. Ash had grown up on stories of Celadon's bloody history.

Sidestepping a gaggle of tourists not quite as smoothly as he would have liked, Ash shouldered his way into the city. Pine fresh hid any sweat or stench and beyond the dirt shading a good half of his face, he blended in as well as any others not decked out in flowers or great swaths of cheap fabric. Yanking his hat down, he took the side route he knew would bring him out past where the Game Corner was.

He didn't have the fondest memories of this city. Which was a shame, honestly, considering how many things there were to do here. But he was only spending a night here, for three things - visiting Erika Kusa once again, going to the Department Store, and sleeping on an honest mattress for the first time in a week.

It took him nearly an hour - taking as many back roads, alleys, and side streets as he could - to reach the gym. Ash stopped in front of it, relying on a dark-eyed glare he had picked up from Wraith to clear a spot around him from tourists. The Kusa symbols over the walls were as twisting as ever, and he managed to recognize the one that was marked over his badge. It gleamed with reflective paint, catching the sun and throwing it back into his eyes. Squinting, he jerked the cap of his hat lower over his eyes. It didn't do much.

Red brick greeted him warmly as he stepped toward the doors, the thick oak doors swinging open at his mere touch. The mint-flower-grass of her perfume line thickened further, forcing him to wait before he adjusted, but the opening room was empty and large, and the lights on the walls perfectly mimicked the gentle glow of sunlight. No one was inside, beyond him and the receptionist, and he figured his residential grass type would appreciate seeing the home of the grass type gym leader. Clicking his pokeball, he reflexively closed his eyes against the scarlet flash.

Bulbasaur appeared with a grunt, sniffing at the air. She seemed at home with the smell, bulb twitching constantly as her vines shifted inside. Though she didn't seem to like the grey tiles beneath her claws, it was obvious how her gaze was drawn to the glass door that Ash knew led to the greenhouse of Erika's battlefield.

A squeal interrupted his thoughts. "Is that a bulbasaur?"

Ash blinked, looking around. The receptionist was all bright eyed and wide smiles, unable to remove her gaze from the grass type. Bulbasaur growled but seemed content to ignore her. Ash's lips quirked.

"Yeah. Is Erika here?"

The receptionist had to wrench her thoughts about from the Kantoese starter and focus, but her voice managed to climb back down a few octaves. "She's in the greenhouse now, ready to battle when you are!"

"Can I just talk?" He asked curiously, voice still raspy from travel. "I already battled her."

"Of course! I'm sure she won't mind. And she'll _definitely_ want to see your bulbasaur - I mean, look at it! She'll practically fall over her own two feet just to see it!"

Ash held back a snort - from what he remembered of the serene gym leader, she didn't seem the type - and nodded toward the door. At her reassuring thumbs-up, he headed towards it. "Thanks."

"No problem!" She chirped, brown eyes still fixed on Bulbasaur. The grass type did seem to enjoy the attention, though she refused to acknowledge her existence. Ash pushed the door open easily enough and was hit again with a wave of mint, making him grunt. Somehow, it was even stronger than before.

Berry trees glittered with dew overhead, sprinkles tucked safely in between the glass panels that made up the building. Bushes stuffed with endless mint leaves lined the outside, releasing more of the offending scent, though Bulbasaur was fascinated. She pawed at a tiny violet flower, claws retracted, and watched it sway from her action.

Ash walked quietly through the greenhouse. It was silent beyond the creak of old trees settling against the earth and the skitter of various grass types. Bulbous eyes blinked at them from the shadows, but from Bulbasaur's lack of aggression and Wraith staying silent, Ash guessed they weren't a threat. His feet seemed to carry him where he needed to go.

Erika was right where he remembered her from last time. Curled up into an ancient Kusa position, feet against each other and palms resting upward, a wide, handleless cup in her lap. Tea, if he guessed right. He walked closer, careful not to step on the vines the tangrowth by her side had thrown around haphazardly. Bulbasaur padded at his side, curious. He nearly made it past the oddish sleeping sprawled against the ground before he brushed a leaf.

Erika Kusa's gaze flicked upward, pale green clouded by the steam. Again, it dissipated far too quickly to be natural, dispelled to clear her vision of him. Her pokemon stirred, the tangrowth gurgling softly as its vines twitched, but they seemed caught in the thralls of some deep sleep. The oddish burrowed itself body underground in a daze, leaving only its head of leaves poking outward.

Bulbasaur took a step forward. Her crimson eyes were fixed on Erika's heart, of all things, and she tracked the fading steam with an intensity Ash rarely saw in her.

"Hey," he offered, feeling almost hesitant to raise his voice beyond a whisper. Erika's very presence was strange in a way different from psychics or Trio pokemon.

Her eyes crinkled into a smile. "Hello." After a moment, her gaze fell to the grass type and widened with surprise. "A bulbasaur?"

"From the Jobane Storage Base," he said, shuffling into a sitting position to be on eye level with her. Erika unfolded into a marginally more comfortable pose, tea untouched. "Nonbattling, but she's a member of my team."

The gym leader paused, leaning down to stare into Bulbasaur's eyes. She stared back, silent of her normal snarl, and didn't so much as move. Erika's eyes flashed something green, wind brushing an untamed lock of hair back. She straightened, seeming to allow Bulbasaur to take a step back. The grass type mumbled something.

Erika hummed, eyes soft. "She is strong, but has much room to grow," she said, gentle no matter what her words were. "Her body has healed, and her mind is much on its way. She looks to others for encouragement, and has been comforted by stories from your haunter. Once she feels strong enough, she will learn to let go of past events and move forward, though she will be forever stained by those events. Helping her as you have has helped both her and your haunter to grow past what happened to them. You have done well."

Ash blinked - he had sort of been expecting an answer to whether he needed to feed her more or not - and nodded. "Thank you."

Her eyes flashed upward, connecting with his in a sensation like a spark. "Go forward," she murmured. "Lady Sabrina holds your future in her hands. Give her the sense you would something terrible."

xXx

The Department Store was still the same loud, screaming mess it had always been. Five floors and absolutely every single one was packed, natives in fine silk crammed alongside dirty, sweaty trainers with neither looking pleased.

Faux swathes of fabric merely a shadow to a true kimono flapped against kiosks, perfumes danced through the air, and jazz music at twice the volume it was supposed to be thrummed through the tiled walls. Even Wraith was recalled, though that was more for Ash's safety of mind than any real need.

Ignoring the mile-long line stretching out from the elevators, Ash clambered up the stairs and made it to the fifth level easily enough. Following the blue lines embedded into the floor, he found the row of machines with their wide, blinking screens. One wasn't being used, and he pounced on it as aggressively as Scorch.

Ash's fingers flicked as he typed in the names of all of his pokemon. Rhydon came up first, and he grinned as he scrolled through the available moves. Thinking about it with a rational mind, he was about to blow all of the money he had spent months saving up, but the far more present part of him was quite excited about beefing up all of his pokemon's movepools.

For Rhydon, it was a given. Dragon tail, smart strike, and shadow claw all called to him, but the Tournament had shown him how little shock wave did. He needed a move to accent his lightning rod. Thunder was annoying expensive - five thousand instead of the regular three - but when compared to thunderbolt, there wasn't anything but sheer power to think about. If Rhydon didn't have lightning rod, he'd be forced to go with thunderbolt because of his lack of ability to create electricity at his current level of power. But he did have it. Ash shoved any thoughts of expense out of his mind as he scrolled more.

Gale's took a little longer. The fearow had a much-reduced list of TMs he could use, but in the end, it came down his current movepool. He didn't have the ability to stay at a distance like the pidgey line and just throw down blades of wind - he had to get close. So double team allowed him to not get hit while doing it, as well as another dodging ability.

Scorch's was already planned. Solar beam gave her an edge against water, ground, and rock types, which were all of her weaknesses. And there was the fact that if she trained hard enough, she could possibly partially unlock her secondary ability of drought, which would only augment the powerful move. It was even more than thunder but he had _plenty_ of cash, or at least enough loud thoughts to chase away the more rational ones.

Wraith was getting sludge bomb. Smog was alright, but poisoning would only increase his natural fighting style, and the noxious mass of toxins would be the way to get it. The bit of variety would also be a defining face in how he managed to fight more agile species as well.

Shadow ball would be going to Karma. She needed a way to fight both other psychics and ghosts, and that was the best move for her now. It would give him the edge against Sabrina, as well as allow for more equal spars against Wraith.

Tide needed ice beam. His physical moves were on point but the majority of his ranged needed more power behind them, and ice beam was the way to go. With how powerful it was, accenting by his primary ice typing, it was clear that he'd be able to take the move to new heights with some of his combos.

Ash frowned, scrolling down through the pawniard selection. Dark pulse would give Rook an offense ranged move, but he was still the weakest member on the team and he was working on night slash now. Ash didn't want to throw so much at him, especially when he was still learning how to be a trainer's pokemon instead of fighting as he did in the wild. He entertained the thought of buying it for later, but the cost of everyone else's TMs told him to stop thinking down that route and he listened. For later, definitely. Maybe in a month or so.

Jumping around various cardboard signs proclaiming some revolutionary item or another, he made his way toward the normal aisle of the TM section. Double team was one of the first, and he snagged solar beam and thunder without much trouble. Shadow ball was next, but sludge bomb took a fair while. He found ice beam a moment before heading toward the checkout.

The cashier's pale smile directed him as he slid his Trainer ID under the scanner. Using a pokedex was becoming more acceptable, but it wasn't yet at the level of the traditional Trainer ID. He winced at the steady drop of the numbers on the screen presented to him, but there was still plenty.

"And I'd like some silver, too," he said, right as the woman was about to turn away. She bobbed her head, turning around to the protected steel boxes behind the counter. Unlocking one with a key around her waist, she offered the various bars to him.

Pure silver, of course. He got enough to double the size of Karma's original, as well as make another. It might take her some time to grow into them, but too much didn't have nearly as much as an effect as too little.

His account took another solid hit from the gleaming metal, and Ash couldn't do much but sigh. It wasn't as bad as Pewter, at least. Thanking the cashier again - earning him another dull, no-teeth smile - he left the store in a hurry.

The Pokemon Center was swelled to match the size of the city, and though he was sectioned in the very back of the building, he still got a large room for all of his team. Accepting the keycard, he slipped toward the back and practically stumbled into the room. Braving Erika and her strange mannerisms, as well as her cryptic message, the Department Store, and the Celadon Market, had thoroughly drained him.

But his team was happy to pass out alongside him. Wraith did his customary check of the room, and Bulbasaur enjoyed examining the succulent by the window Ash remembered having last time he boarded in Celadon. Dropping his bags against the bed, he did a quick glance around the room and managed to catch sight of the calendar on the wall.

Ash bit back a curse. He'd missed a month mark, _again_. Five months on the road, and it had passed like any other day. But it was close enough he should be able to catch the sixth, somewhere around Saffron. He hoped so. The passage of time had always been something he constantly aware of in Pallet Town, waiting down the marker until the spring after he turned ten, and now it was almost a foreign concept. He barely knew what month it was.

Rhydon sensed his inner turmoil and lumbered over, reaching out with dull claws to poke Ash on the shoulder. "I'm fine, bud," he answered, leaning against the ground type. "It's just… been a while since I've looked at the date. A lot of time has passed, huh?" Rhydon rumbled back, spinning his horn idly.

He didn't have anything to say after that, and Rhydon understood. Touching his trainer on the shoulder, he stepped back to let Ash pull out one of his bags for want of something to do, grabbing a ruby-red berry from within. "Hey, Rook, come here."

The pawniard sprang toward him with all the serenity of an approaching storm, grinding to a halt only a foot away with the screech of metal on metal. Ash mentally pitied whoever was roomed next to him. Rook watched raptly as Ash ate a chople berry. He reached out and impaled another scarlet fruit on one of his blades, sending out a wave of crimson juice as the soft berry deflated from the wound. Ash grimaced as it got on the carpet but Rook ate the berry quickly, seeming to enjoy it. He went back for another.

Chople berries it was, then. Ash had guessed that would be the berry for him, based on the food Rook seemed to enjoy more, and he had been correct. The pawniard finished off the stack but offered the last one to Ash, who took it. They were spicer than he normally liked but had a pleasant texture.

Getting ready for sleep was as simple as ever. Tide stretched himself out, sleeping against the cool tiles of the bathroom while still having his nose in the sleeping area. Bulbasaur took the spot closest to the window, Karma taking the corner opposite. Wraith hid under the bed, Gale perching on the headrest and tucking his head under his wing.

Rhydon rumbled happily, jerking the woolen blanket under his head. He didn't normally want comfort like that, armor too thick to really feel it, but Ash had shoved it at him until he accepted.

Rook, having never slept in a Pokemon Center before, was confused until Ash mimed sleeping. He immediately dropped to the ground with the clatter of steel, collapsing into a boneless sprawl. Despite the thoroughly uncomfortable-looking position, the pawniard didn't seem to care. Ash, after a moment of trying to find a different area, eventually gave up and crawled into bed himself.

He hated the lack of ambient heat Scorch always produced, but the blanket was a warm enough substitute. Resting against the pillow and mattress, his back cradled instead of bruised, he fell asleep quickly.

xXx

Karma's eyes lit up like stars when she saw what he was holding. Almost hesitantly, she reached outward, ears twitching. When he offered the thin bars, she snatched them up without another thought and melted them down in an instant. Her previous shine joined the molten mass of metal.

Though he had been nervous, it looked like exactly the amount of silver she needed. He watched, curious, as she explored the metal. She tapped it lightly, ignoring the heat and stick as she formed the most basic shape of her new shines. Her eyes glowed as she added her powers further to the mix, drawing the silver out to form thin, twisting handles and wide spoon tops made to reflect power outward. Karma hummed contentedly, scratching marks only she could understand into the base of the shines and curling the tips around her claws. Once she declared she was done, the heat was sucked from the silver and thrown away, leaving two gleaming shines.

She reached forward, claws twitching, and grabbed a hold of them. The effect was instant - blue began to shine from her eyes, trickling out alongside her ears and mouth, and her psionic bubble wobbled as it simultaneously inflated and deflated. With an audible hiss, she forcibly grappled for control of her own power, and it obeyed. Stabilized, she ran her claws over the new shines, awe and excitement visible in the twitch of her ears.

"How are they?" He asked, once she had finished her investigation. She looked up at him, black eyes shining, and tapped her claw along one of them.

 _They are good_ , she settled with. _Strong. I will do much with them_.

He grinned. "I guessed that." Her ears flicked in amusement. "Ready for your TM?"

She nodded at him, going back to exploring her new shines even as he recalled her. Ash had held off of downloading the TMs to his pokemon until the next day, wanting an immediate training session to allow them to work with these new powers.

He carefully removed the protective layers over the TM discs, handling them slowly to avoid scratching. Bulbasaur growled curiously as Ash showed her each of them, sniffing at the dark green of solar beam.

Rhydon was first. The disk hummed warmly as it started spinning, pushing endless waves of knowledge through the pokeball's muddled state of consciousness. Arcs of yellow lightning flashed harmlessly over the surface, making his eyes smart. It was over before too long, though.

Tide's drained the heat from his fingertips and Karma's glowed a dull grey, while Wraith's burned a vicious purple-black. Gale's was the most boring - just a flash of regular white - but Ash was still grinning from ear to ear as he finished up.

He paused at the last TM, dark green. _When she gets back_ , he promised himself. Placing the disk into TM machine for safekeeping, he tucked the whole thing back into his bag.

His team accepted being released with a melody of grunts. Karma adjusted the quickest, already free of the post-healing daze, and had almost began to summon the crackle of ghostly energy before Ash leveled her a look. She subsided, humor flashing across her eyes even as he groaned at her.

The clearing wasn't overly large, but it was plenty for what he needed. Tide, examining his flippers curiously, snapped to attention as Ash crossed over toward him. He pointed at a round stone a little ways away, drawing the ice type's attention.

"Tide, show me ice beam. Aim for that boulder."

The sealeo barked, pounding his flippers against the earth. His throat glowed silver, only just fainter than hail, and he swelled up a moment before releasing. Three jagged streaks of ice, glowing brightly, slammed into the boulder with a _boom_.

Ash shivered from the cold that spread over the field, most of his friends doing the same, but it was clear what the move had done. The boulder was caked in thick, jagged ice, every spike reflecting the last of the sunlight like jewels. Tide barked proudly, twitching his whiskers. That, combined with brine, would be an incredible upgrade to lance. Ash grinned, patting the sealeo on his head.

Gale shrieked until Ash looked at him, flaring his wings. Rook stepped back. "Alright - Gale, show us what you've got."

The raptor paused, concentrating, before he aimed his head up and took off with a proud shriek. Ash was watching him closely but Gale, while still climbing upward, spun into a tight barrel roll. When he pulled out of it, there were six fearow flawlessly flying overhead, swooping around each other. He didn't have it quite down - two illusions flew into each other and promptly dispelled - but Ash couldn't even hope to pick out anything beyond a mass of grey and red feathers. He whistled sharply and Gale got rid of the double team, revealing him in a far different position than Ash had guessed, and flew back down with a smug look in his eyes. He shrieked, flaring his crest, but it was well deserved. That would be a powerful move in his use. Gale accepted Ash's praise with a flashing of his crest, neck held high in a proud arch.

Karma's ears perked as he looked at her, shines twitching her grasp. "Shadow ball."

She extended her two shines, crossing them in front of her chest. A tiny compressed ball of shadows appeared, flickering with blue-grey arcs of lightning. She examined it curiously. There was no glow in her eyes, the pitch strangely dull and unreflective, but her control over it stopped its energy from leaking out to attack her natural aura. With a flick of one of her ears, the shadow rocketed forward, leaving a streak of grey behind it. Wraith let out a hiss of surprise and went incorporeal a second before it would have exploded against him.

"Karma," Ash scolded, but he couldn't quite hide the laughter in his tone. Wraith reappeared, hissing, but his gaze was calculating. Now the alakazam had a way to severely hinder him in battle, beyond just that of his poison sacs. Karma's eyes flashed with amusement but the haunter didn't retaliate, settling for clawing at the air and baring his fangs. She twitched her mustache in response.

"Well, Wraith, it's your turn. Sludge bomb."

The haunter hissed, pulling his hands close to orbit his body. He cranked open his jaws, exposing too many fangs to fit into a mouth that size, and spat out a massive ball of venom. It hit the ground and exploded outward, nearly hitting Ash before Karma intercepted with a barrier. Within seconds, it was visibly eating through the ground with the sluggish popping of poison. Wraith's baritone laughter thrummed through Ash's bones. His shadow rose in his pride, twisting around Ash's mind almost like a dance. The next second, he got himself under control, but it was clear how he felt about it. Sludge bomb was infinitely more concentrated and deadly than smog, and it gave him a way to punish opponents who got too cocky when facing his fragile body.

Ash wrinkled his nose - the smell was horrendous - and nodded to Rhydon. The ground type summoned a hunk of dirt to cover the poison, cutting off the stench it was releasing. He rumbled, pleased, but immediately jerked to face Ash when the trainer turned to him. His horn spun.

"Okay, bud," Ash said, a grin spreading over his face. "Use thunder."

Rhydon rumbled, settling into a battle stance. The electricity didn't come from just his horn - it seemed to seep out of the cracks between his armor, crawling like a living thing as it spread upward. Rhydon's eyes were narrowed as he focused, horn spinning furiously as its electricity stores forcibly increased to handle the lightning he was generating. With the bellow of grating stone, he released it.

It snapped through the air, a thunderclap following, and slammed against the boulder. Ash had to look away as it impacted, stars popping behind his eyes, but he turned back towards the stone a second later.

All of the ice from Tide's ice beam was evaporated, the boulder black and charred beneath it. Rhydon rumbled proudly, but he was hunched over, the price of generating that much electricity taking its toll in shivering limbs. Ash couldn't help the laugh that left him - _there_ was the strength of a rhydon with lightning rod. Other rhydon with rock head or reckless could only dream of that electrical power. "We're going to have to practice that one, bud." Rhydon rumbled his agreement, eyes fixed on the damage he had done. His scarlet eyes burned.

xXx

Ash frowned, waving off Rhydon's offering of assistance. He wanted to do this on his own.

Normally, Scorch handled everything to do with their evening fire, occasionally borrowing Karma's finesse or Rhydon's bulk whenever she wanted something larger than the usual. She'd curl up in the mass of sticks, letting most of the fire come from her as she ate the wood lazily. Plenty of heat and light, as well as keeping her inner fire fed. He couldn't do that now.

Grunting, he dug his nails beneath the paper-white bark of the birch tree. He had chosen the clearing specifically for that presence of the birch, since none of the others he had seen had had it. It was far from perfect in comparison: the source of water - a tiny pond barely ten feet deep - was completely covered in a mass of ducklett weed and algae, though Tide didn't seem to mind, and it was small enough his team couldn't spread out to their usual boundaries. He'd take a source of tinder over other comforts, though.

Ripping off another chunk, he dropped it onto his growing pile and went back. It came off easier since he had gotten the tougher outer layer off, though he was careful not to remove too much from one tree. After he had gotten enough, he headed back toward the fire pit Rhydon had dug and curled the white bark around the logs he had gathered. Building it in the _koya_ fashion, he stacked the logs around each other and dumped the last of the tinder in. After a few rough starts with his collection of matches, a spark caught and a merry blaze started up.

Ash grinned, proud, and settled himself in front of the fire. It wasn't nearly dark enough to stop training, but he appreciated the warmth with the creeping chill of autumn. Holding his hands forward, he let himself get to the point he was uncomfortably hot before heading back to check on his training team.

Most were working alone, switching between working on their new moves and strategies Ash was trying to develop for each of them. Tide was taking a while to properly speed up his new lance combo - ice beam was powerful, but so was brine, and he was having difficulties getting ice beam to freeze all of the brine before it hit his target.

Rhydon was working on earth power, with high hopes to start on earthquake. Ash wasn't having him take it seriously yet - he didn't have the bulk yet and it was dangerous to fully try without protection - but any steps he could take now would be only helpful later.

Bulbasaur busied herself by either watching the others unblinkingly or releasing sleep powder. Ash kept a constant eye on her side of the clearing to avoid any of blue-white spores from drifting into others of his team, but the grass type kept it closely bound around her to avoid anything from happening.

Gale, even in the midst of his weight training, enjoyed annoying the others. He would tuck into a tight spin, releasing a clone, and send it to splash uselessly off of another training pokemon. Rhydon had nearly shattered the earth the first time it had happened, punching wildly, but it was good training for expecting the unexpected. And Ash might have also enjoyed how everyone kept one eye on the sky even while pouring their hearts into training.

Wraith let out another shrieking, hissing sound that rattled Ash's bones, disappearing into a puff of gas. Rook stepped back, blades twitching nervously, but the haunter reformed with another wail. He sagged in midair, hands missing and spines limping, but still he bared his fangs at the dark type. Rook reached forward and stabbed him directly through the mouth. Again, the ghost disappeared with a _bang_.

Endurance training was both simpler and more difficult for Wraith. He didn't have any sort of physical endurance to train - no matter what exercises Ash ran him through, there wasn't anything that could really be done to his ectoplasmic skin. It stayed at exactly the right thickness he needed to contain his poisonous gases and nothing else. But his energy could be trained. By forcing him to reform again and again, he built up stamina, even though he hated it more than any other type of training.

Rook was struggling to gather enough power for night slash, but the training was helping him as well. It was starting to get to him that Wraith a special sort of pokemon, being able to be destroyed and come back, but he still refused to believe he wasn't just a different type of pawniard. Ash was running out of ways to convince him.

Various shrieks, barks, and bellows came from every side of the clearing except one - Karma's. She was meditating, legs clumsily crossed and shines floating in front of her closed eyes. Psychic energy leaked around her.

"Karma, can you come here?" He called, jerking the alakazam's attention to him. She floated over, shines tightly gripped in her claws.

"You're going to be facing Sabrina's Alakazam," he said a bit grimly. She nodded back, ears pinned, and a flash of blue crossed her eyes. Not a communication, merely a show of power. He grinned.

There was a reason she was facing him. Most would assume it would be up to Wraith, or maybe even Rook just for the type advantage, but it wouldn't work. The haunter would be key in the strategy to weaken Alakazam, but he couldn't face the psychic type, not with the psychic's uncanny knowledge on how to destroy ghostly energy and his own poison sacs. Lady Sabrina was not the type to leave her pokemon defenseless when facing the types they were naturally weak against. Of course, she had prepared against _all_ types, but Karma was his best bet.

As a fully evolved pokemon, she had probably the most raw power of any of Ash's pokemon. Gale had his speed and Scorch had her fire, but Karma was a well of strength she had only just begun to tap. There was a reason that Professor Oak and Sabrina had an alakazam on their teams. While they didn't have the physical might, psychic awareness, nor hypnotic abilities of others, they were incredibly versatile. Karma couldn't reach the level where she could put an opponent to sleep with a single glance like powerful enough hypno, nor force enough psychic power into an area to form a mock void like a gardevoir, but she had the potential to be an untouchable beast capable of crushing her opponents with styles from all of them. And he was going to take her there.

"We both know you're not strong enough to face him head-on, and there's no point in trying to trick him by teleporting and spamming shadow balls. So I've come up with a strategy."

Her ears perked in interest, raising her leftmost shine. He shook his head, ignoring the confused tilt of her head, and gestured to her shines. "That's the thing. In every battle you've fought, you've just _fought_ , haven't you?"

She blinked at him.

"Physically. You've always fought with your power, using it for psybeams or barriers or confusions. But Alakazam isn't going to do the same. He's been fully evolved for years, fighting everything he wanted. He knows exactly how to fight other psychics - you don't. But we're going to change that."

Karma raised her other shine to match, but though her eyes glowed, she didn't release any energy. He could dimly feel something twitching in his mind, glowing the orange-yellow of agreement. A grin spread over his face.

"Now, here's my strategy…"

xXx

The boundary of Saffron City extended much farther out than normal. Hewn stone bunched beneath his feet nearly a day's travel out from the gate, and the trees were pruned and kept even before that. Sometimes, he swore he could see flashes of teleportation-trained abra from the corner of his eyes, but they were always gone before he could try and track them down.

Trees, magnificent beech with golden bark and emerald leaves, stretched over Route 7 in a canopy too thick to not be planned. Dappled sunlight fought its way through to light the way, just dark enough he felt like it was dawn instead of midday. The change was welcome - after the normal blinding yellow, being able to slide his cap backward was nice.

The number of trainers picked up exponentially on his final day of travel, seeming to nearly surround him at times, but he didn't accept any challenges. Time was fast-moving and he wanted to battle Sabrina as soon as he could.

Saffron City's gates were large and imposing, a far cry from the gentler iron of Celadon. Multiple League officials stood watch alongside it, two hypno and a kadabra positioned equally between them. Ash tried his best to think innocent thoughts as he walked through.

The planning for this city was streamlined, and the main road that cut directly through the city branched into every other location needed. The gym would be at the heart, allowing Sabrina's gaze to reach everywhere it needed. He sucked in a breath and took a hard left, trying to follow the path he had memorized last night.

Ash had a plan. Though he was feeling less and less confident with every step he took toward the gym, he did have one, and that was what mattered.

The gym was the same, all gleaming silver and towering pillars, styled just anciently enough that it looked off from the buildings around it. Windows blackened to avoid distractions marched underneath curving arches, one low spire emerging from the top, two neatly kept trees framing the entrance. The doors, enormous wooden things with bronze handles, forced him to nearly put his whole weight against them to even open a crack.

Thawne wasn't there - which Ash was kind of disappointed at - but another receptionist stared up at him with blank, reflective eyes as he walked closer. She flicked her fingers, summoning a lined sheet of paper, and read through the names quickly.

Ash fought with a strange mixture of awe and jealousy at the casual display of power even as she looked back at him. "You are not on the list," she said, eyes burning like colored flashlights. She narrowed her gaze, light increasing, before relaxing. "Ash Ketchum."

"Can I still have a battle?"

She tilted her head. "There are no others scheduled for many hours. Go forward."

Ash was kind of sick of the strange, backward talk that both this psychic and Erika had given him, and he knew it was far from over, given Sabrina. Smoothing his face over - although he didn't miss the muffled snicker from the receptionist - he nodded his thanks and headed out of the room.

The hallway was quiet. A few psychics, donned with blue robes that swished around their ankles in an unfelt breeze, nodded to him as he walked, but most kept to themselves. It took a moment to remember which turn he had to make, but the building was relatively simple, and he found himself on one side of a wide, stretching battlefield.

There was no Gladion to play referee this time, the room empty, but it seemed untouched from when he had last been there. He padded up the stone bricks surrounding the field, entering the challenger's box. Distantly, he could hear the hum of psychic barriers. Though he couldn't see anyone, he knew he was being watched.

A buzz surfaced behind his eyes.

Lady Sabrina stared curiously at him, eyes hidden beneath the haze of blue. "Hello, Ash Ketchum," she said mildly. "You have returned."

"Yeah," he said back, immediately hiding his frown. _Yes_ would have been much more professional, why did he say _yeah_?

Her eyes crinkled in amusement. "Perhaps." Her gaze drifted to his waist, where his pokeballs were proudly polished and shining, before arriving at his face again. He could feel something - a feather's touch - around his mind. "You have returned to challenge me."

Ash reached into his pocket, pulling out the object he had come here to bargain for. Hand tight around the circular badge, he jerked his arm out and opened his fingers, leaving it laying on his palm. Without any sort of effort, she psychically lifted it into the air, the Marsh Badge spinning quietly in the artificial light.

"I'd like to challenge you," he offered, recited words darting through his head even as he tried to remember them. "For a badge."

"You have already earned the Marsh," she said, but her eyes were calculating. "Fighting me is difficult enough as is."

Ash grimaced. "I cheated you out of a _real_ badge by fighting your reduced team. I learned a lot from that match, and you really taught me what I needed to know to improve at that stage, but that was the beginning. I'm ready to face your full team. I don't want to be coddled anymore."

Her eyes flashed, the blue fading away to partially reveal the true grey before it was covered again. "I accept."

Ash watched with not a small amount of worry as the Marsh Badge flew away, pulled by a tendril of Sabrina's power. She teleported to her side of the battlefield, a pokeball emerging from some hidden space and floating in front of her. With a single nod at Ash, she released the first of her pokemon.

An espeon appeared, lavender fur perfectly smoothed back. It stared across the field with a haughty expression, split tail curling around its front paws. With a luxurious movement, it fully stood, padding to the center of the battlefield.

His mind raced with strategy. Wraith and Karma were needed for Alakazam, so he needed his first teammate to be someone that could both stand up to Espeon as well as whatever followed next. Tide could should most of its-

"Send out your newest acquaintance."

Ash blinked. "What?"

Sabrina raised one immaculately kept eyebrow. "This battle is now a four v four. Your pawniard will fight."

He grimaced, reaching down to touch his sixth pokeball. Was that legal? Maybe. But Sabrina didn't seem the type to force him to have a disadvantage just to beat him. He clicked the release, aiming close to his side. Rook had been briefed, and he knew how to handle himself. Sabrina was the gym leader, she made the rules, but Ash still fought with the prickle of frustration.

The pawniard screeched his arrival, banging his blades together with a thrum of steel energy. His golden eyes narrowed in on the psychic across the field, though Espeon just stared back.

Espeon were mostly ranged fighters, having lost most of the ability to bounce back from heavy hits after evolving. But it would still be annoyingly fast, probably enough to the point where Rook couldn't attach himself. Ash's frown deepened. He hoped Sabrina wouldn't read his mind for the battle - it would be difficult enough without that.

Sabrina tilted her head toward him. He took that as a cue. "Rook, circle. It'll be faster than you, so be ready. Thunder wave when you get the chance."

Rook screeched, banging his blades together, and broke into a bouncing run. Espeon unfolded in one smooth motion, eyes glowing aqua to match Sabrina's, and immediately blurred into quick attack. Rook spun as fast as he could to match it, but heavy armor and bladed feet did not make for much mobility.

Espeon apparently took Ash's command to heart as it circled around Rook, split tail wavering in the air. Rook kept match with it. Sabrina seemed content to play the running game, and Espeon was using only the bare minimum of quick attack to create a constant surge of adrenaline to boost its running while reducing the energy cost. Clever.

"Thunder wave, feint attack."

Rook screeched, crackling with electricity. Espeon's eyes narrowed and it stopped quick attack, padding in a wide strafe around the dark type. Its gem glowed with a violence.

The pawniard released thunder wave like a bolt itself, overcharged like normal, and charged. Espeon's ears flattened but its gem glowed, and Ash only had a moment to notice the glow before a section of the battlefield surged upward to meet the electricity.

An enormous mass of dirt, held in place by an unstoppable will, was scorched black by the thunder wave but otherwise unchanged. Espeon narrowed its eyes from its safety behind and then the dirt was shooting forward, taller than Rook by three.

"Deflect with metal claw!"

The pawniard screeched, dispelling feint attack, and barely raised silver blades by the time the ground crashed into him. He managed to cleave one major portion and the rest crumbled alongside it. Rook tore at the dirt pinning his right blade down, scar throbbing in Ash's mind, but even he noticed Espeon's sudden charge. The psychic glowed with burnished energy.

He jerked his left blade up, the edge glowing, and readied himself to cut along its side-

Espeon's jewel flashed a burning blue and psychic energy flooded the field. Rook didn't flinch, still watching the charging feline, but even he stumbled back when Espeon swiftly brought its paws up and jumped off of the air, sailing neatly over his head.

Ash blinked. Espeon landed smoothly, psychic energy dispelling, but it was just slow enough he could catch the last remnants of what it had created. Four invisible not-quite barriers, perfectly timed to be beneath its paws, just strong enough Espeon could jump off of them. Sabrina had given a landlocked pokemon basically the ability to fly.

Rook thrashed, confused, and Espeon used the momentum from its leap to spin around on its front paws. Giving a strange, high-pitched cry, it released a blast of lime green energy directly into the back of Rook's neck.

He shrieked in pain, nearly falling over. Signal beam, it had to be - and it had hit Rook in the one spot where his steel armor was the weakest. Espeon's gem glowed, preparing another, and Rook barely managed to rip himself free and jump away as the signal beam exploded against the dirt. He hissed from the wave of energy but shouldered the worst of it, anger turning his eyes flat.

Ash needed a new strategy, this was not going according to plan- "Metal sound!"

Rook slammed his blades together and pulled, releasing an unholy scream of metal on metal. Espeon shrieked, psychic-boosted senses collapsing alongside it as the sound attacked it like a living thing. Rook sprang into a charge as it trembled, ears pressed flat, and got within a foot before the feline released an instinctual blast of psychic energy.

It dissipated before growing close to Rook, but the burst of blue-purple had been enough of a distraction. Rook's night slash carved two shallow lines into its flank but it avoided most of the damage, blurring into quick attack despite the pawniard's screech.

Espeon skidded to a stop on the opposite side of the battlefield, tail nearly dragging behind it. Its eyes were flat, and Sabrina's were as well - the night slash had snapped their connection. Rook tried to charge in, to press his advantage, but Espeon had recovered enough it darted away again as its eyes slowly regained their shine.

Ash grimaced as Espeon's gem glowed once again, psychic powers restored. Rook glanced back at him, scar twitching, and Ash did his best to only send thoughts of encouragement. "Left blade, feint attack at all times," he called. "Thunder wave."

Espeon jumped straight upward, leaping off of its barriers three times to avoid the electricity, and simply kicked off another and plummeted toward Rook. He raised his blades, poised to attack, but it formed another jump and sailed over his head. By the time Rook had even begun to spin around, it had nailed him with another signal beam and blurred away.

Rook screeched again, but Sabrina had easily seen his lack of mobility and capitalized on it. He didn't have the ranged abilities to deal with the psychic type, but Ash knew it had to be tiring after using psychic like that and taking a dark type hit.

Espeon chose to use quick attack to dodge another thunder wave, split tail flicking, and it circled around to close in before Rook's flashing blades forced it to retreat again. Its eyes thrummed with energy as it searched for an opening. The pawniard stumbled over a loose stone, eyes fixed on his opponent instead of the ground, and it struck.

Espeon's gem glowed and now Ash could see the strands of psychic energy stitching together, forming a sheen in the air that he knew would be another barrier. It was moving slower. "Not this time," he muttered. "Rook! Night slash!"

The pawniard screeched, gold eyes flat, and broke into a charge. The close range forced Espeon to jump sooner, and its paws had just cleared his domed head when he lunged upward and scored a thin line across its stomach. Espeon shrieked in pain, barriers shattering beneath the wave of dark energy, and it fell to the ground. Rook stepped forward, instincts ready to impale it on his head blade, but there was a flash of scarlet light and the psychic disappeared.

Ash let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. Battling an espeon with a pawniard should have been a simple, if difficult, battle of blasting and charging. Sabrina had made his heart beat like he was challenging Lance.

Rook screeched proudly, tapping his steel ribs to produce a ringing sound. Sabrina narrowed her eyes, Espeon's pokeball floating away, but she chose her next opponent without missing a beat.

A slender hypno appeared, white mane pristine and pendulum swinging back and forth. It stared tiredly across the field, but he hadn't missed the flash of contempt from seeing Rook. The pawniard screeched back, on a high from beating Espeon, and readied his blades. Sabrina looked at him again, and he took the first move.

"Night slash, charge." Using night slash so many times in one match had no doubt reduced Rook's endurance, but if he could get a solid hit in to weaken Hypno to the point where he could attach, the match would be over quickly.

Hypno's eyes flashed.

In a millisecond, it had formed an enormous focus blast, taken aim, and released it. Rook had barely noticed the move before it was exploding in his face.

Ash stared a bit dumbly at the pawniard collapsed in a crater that took up nearly half of the battlefield, blades charred from the heat and fully unconscious. Hypno idly polished a section of its pendulum.

He recalled Rook a moment later, the pokeball still between his fingers. Hypno, now that he wasn't focused on how he could beat it, exuded an aura of power that made the hairs on his arms stand up. It didn't seem to be quite as collected as Sabrina's other pokemon, but it seemed more powerful than Espeon. Mostly stationary, though he could expect a pokemon of Sabrina's caliber to at least be versed in teleportation.

Rhydon appeared and bellowed, spinning his horn with the crackle of electricity. Hypno's eyes flashed with reflected lightning, seemingly annoyed by the bright light. Its pendulum swung once like a fateful note.

A blast of pure psychic energy rippled over the field, tinged in blue-green. Rhydon roared as it hit his chest, but he didn't have any time to react as Hypno primed a psybeam. He hurriedly jerked a chunk of earth up to take the hit, though a few slivers exploded past to burst against his chest.

They were already on the defensive. "Anti-psychic!" Ash shouted, not having the time to worry about Sabrina hearing him.

Rhydon rumbled. Hypno's eyes flashed, some of the exhaustion leaving its gaze, and it seemed to prepare for anything. Ash couldn't help the slight grin over his face as Sabrina stared over the field. She hadn't read his mind, at least.

The ground type took a step back, crushing his claws together, and started to move. He walked in a strange, jerking fashion, each step swaying him back and forth, but the effect was immediate. With every step, his tail slammed into the ground, releasing a burst of energy to ripple outward in a weakened earth power.

Hypno jerked as the ripples reached its feet, eyes flashing. They weren't strong enough to do any sort of damage, but they were uneven in their appearance and there was no way for Hypno to properly predict when the next one was without focusing too much on the ground instead of the battle. A distraction technique.

With a _crack_ , it disappeared as a stone edge exploded beneath where it had been. Hypno appeared a few feet away, flinching immediately as another ripple spread outward. Ash could see the intense frustration building in its narrow gaze.

Red energy crackled around its pendulum, gathering force much slower than the instant focus blast from before. It shuffled around, avoiding Rhydon's cautiously launched rock blasts. He kept a constant stream of smack down encircling his dorsal spines, ready to be launched at a moment's notice. Hypno could only gather its energy, forced to pause every time its concentration was broken by Rhydon's earth powers, and glare.

Sabrina's eyes flashed, Hypno's burning to match. Ash tensed, ready for anything, but he couldn't do anything but watch as Rhydon shot off another wave of rock blast, forcing Hypno to teleport, only to reappear within a foot and launch a highly condensed psychic at his stomach. Rhydon grunted, armor absorbing most of the blast, but the brief respite allowed Hypno a moment to teleport back to a safe distance. Even as it appeared across the field, it released the thrumming focus blast in one smooth motion.

Ash cursed but Rhydon was already moving, charging to the side with all of his power, slamming his tail into the ground for a push and triggering as close to an earthquake as he could.

Hypno staggered but it had already released the attack, and Rhydon's move only faltered the ending. The focus blast ripped over his tail, exploding with a _boom_ loud enough to echo off the walls. Rhydon bellowed, falling.

The psychic teleported forward, another focus blast building on its pendulum, but Rhydon scrambled to his feet with frenzied movements and stumbled away. Dirt and earth flew upward, ground trembling, and Hypno's eyes flashed with annoyance as another crater joined the multitude already there.

Rhydon breathed heavily, dragging a charred and blackened tail behind him. Hypno's gaze snapped to him, pendulum swinging sharply in an unfelt breeze, and raised its hand. Ash's mind raced. "Spite!"

Hypno narrowed its eyes as shadows dropped from the ceiling, drawn to Rhydon's throat like venomoth to flame. He growled, eyes dulling from the energy. Hypno jerked its pendulum out but it didn't prepare anything, waiting. Rhydon stomped his foot in an attempt of a distraction and sniped off the spite.

Instead of a shield, a shadow ball formed in front of Hypno's pendulum, flickering with grey arcs of lightning. It tracked Rhydon's attack easily and raised the shadow ball to match its path. The spite spluttered uselessly against the larger attack, energy absorbed.

Rhydon had no chance to dodge the shadow ball, not with how fast it was going. So instead, he shuffled his bulk behind him, horn spinning as fast as it could, and stabbed it as soon as it came within range. He shredded it, splashing ghostly energy around the field. Hypno flinched.

Ash seized the opportunity with both hands. "Stone edge!"

Rhydon rumbled, rearing up to stomp at the earth. A crackling wave of rocks snapped outward. Hypno cracked into teleportation an instant before a pillar of rock stabbed where it had just been, too strong for the ghostly energy to destroy its psychic abilities completely. Ash bit back a curse as the humanoid appeared on the opposite side of the field, avoiding the remains of the shadows.

Sabrina's eyes flashed, and Hypno switched strategies in a heartbeat. Shuffling forward, it extended its pendulum outward, swinging gently.

"Look away!" Ash barked, clenching his fists. Rhydon immediately spun, nearly falling as his tail was too injured to properly counterbalance. Tendrils of pink energy crept outward, staining the air, but Rhydon determinedly left his back open for retaliation to avoid being put to sleep. Hypno's eyes dulled in distaste and it dispelled hypnosis, immediately charging a narrow string of energy. Rhydon bellowed as the psychic slammed into his back, throwing him forward, but he managed to catch himself with his arms and spin. Hypno raised its pendulum, but Ash was done.

"Thunder."

Rhydon roared, horn spinning. Lightning creeped out from beneath his plates, crackling upward, and gathered at the tip. Hypno's eyes flashed, spindly limbs sagging, but even as it drew up a wide, curved barrier in front of its chest, Rhydon released his attack.

The lightning burst across the battlefield, bringing along a thunderclap for the ride. Hypno's shield disintegrated in a blast of light and sound, stunning the psychic for the second it took for the thunder to finish its course and slam into its chest. Hypno screeched, pendulum flashing with the last of its energy, before it collapsed bonelessly against the ground.

Rhydon grumbled as the energy loss took its toll, horn spinning once as the last of the lightning left it. He pounded his rough fists together, watching as Hypno disappeared in a flash of scarlet.

It had been as smart as a whip and incredibly powerful, though Rhydon had learned too many distraction techniques to allow it to show its true power. Exhausting it with teleportation had probably been the reason the match went as well as it did. Ash sagged, rubbing a hand over his forehead. Amusement touched his mind, and he glanced up.

"Are you ready to continue?"

Face flushed, he hurried for a response. "Yeah. Let's do this."

Sabrina's lips quirked, staring down at Rhydon with an inscrutable expression in her eyes. The ground type glared doggedly back, memories of his first loss against her rising to the forefront. Earth trembled beneath his silver claws, smoothing over in a small radius around him.

The pokemon Sabrina sent out was large and unmoving. It blinked across the field at him with wide, blue-yellow eyes, the citrine star on its forehead flashing with energy. Its body was humanoid, armed with too long of fingers and opposable thumbs, but its face was just off enough that Ash felt something was wrong. Maybe as tall as he was, but it was sitting and seemed to have no desire to move from its position. Purple fur leapt from its shoulders like a cape, stark against the white of its body.

He was sort-of happy she hadn't used her famed mr. mime - Mimey was a little too fresh in his mind - but at least he would have known what his opponent was. It definitely wasn't from Indigo, and it had too light of a fur coat to be from Sinnoh. Kalos, maybe? He wouldn't know if any new pokemon had been discovered there.

"Oranguru," Sabrina answered simply. She didn't offer anything else, eyes thrumming with energy.

Nothing he had heard of before, but that didn't mean anything. Rhydon rumbled at his opponent, who was merely sweeping its wide gaze over the field. Sabrina didn't make a move, and Ash took the first move before she could.

"Rock polish."

Rhydon glowed a pale, unthreatening white, but he offset it with the _whirr_ of his horn. Slivers of stone-keratin fell to the ground and he rumbled appreciatively, flexing his claws and tossing his head. With how painful it was to move his tail, he had lost the majority of his balance, so any help would give him back his edge.

Oranguru did nothing, eyes flashing on and off as its expression softened repeatedly. Sabrina was obviously communicating with it, but even though Rhydon was injured, she wasn't pressing her advantage.

"Shock wave," Ash said. Rhydon rumbled, horn sparking, and released a thin bolt of lightning. Oranguru flinched when it hit, gold-blue eyes narrowing, but it didn't move beyond that of shifting its weight to keep Rhydon firmly in its focus.

Rhydon rumbled and stomped on the ground, triggering a stone edge. Oranguru grunted, pushed upward, but it weighed too much for the rock to push it up successfully. Rhydon's horn spun in slight confusion and he readied an implosion, ready to trap the behemoth underground.

"Wait," Ash said, frowning. Oranguru's style seemed about as opposite to Sabrina's as could be, but the pokemon looked like it could tank things as well as a slaking. Even if it was trapped underground, it had the psychic abilities Derrick's snorlax didn't, and he doubted it would stay stuck for long. If he compared it to a snorlax, though, a powerful physical attack would be the way to end it. Spite wasn't worth much if it didn't move, and it looked too heavy for rock blast. Rhydon's power was in his bulk, and both of them knew it. "Horn attack, bud," he whispered, keeping his voice low. "Put everything you have into it."

Rhydon bellowed, horn whirring, and charged. Oranguru looked up, eyes dulling once more, and it patiently waited. When the ground type got within five feet, it extended one arm, palm out. Ash only saw the thin tendrils of purple light an instant before it erupted.

The next second, his starter was sent flying with a _bang_. Psychic energy exploded outward, slamming against the barriers hard enough to make Ash stumble back and hit the railing. His breath was forced from him by the touch of the move. When he finally recovered, heaving air back into his lungs, Rhydon was collapsed against the ground.

Sabrina stared serenely at his incredulous gaze. "Stored power."

Ash grimaced, still massaging his chest. Stored power was a tricky move - it used the majority of a pokemon's energy to perform, and even then, it required them to be still and gather their strength before performing it. Perfect for slow, immobile tanks like Oranguru, and exactly the move he should have expected but in no way did.

Rhydon grunted when he was recalled, but he wasn't in any shape to keep fighting. The heat from the blast had melted off the first layer of his stone-keratin armor, and he hadn't moved since he had landed. Ash whispered thanks to the dented pokeball and slipped it back onto his waist, staring at the field.

Wraith's appearance was surprisingly little, at least in terms of dramatics. He hovered menacingly over Oranguru, jagged claws twitching and fangs dripping venom, but stayed silent. Sabrina's eyes crinkled with humor, though from what, Ash couldn't tell.

"Stick to the shadows, prepare for shadow punch," Ash commanded, not-quite whispering to counter Wraith's terrible hearing. "It's strong. Don't let it hit you."

The haunter hissed in response, hand sliding back to smoothly join with his body. Oranguru made a low, grunting sound, psychic energy twining like thread around the fronds of its leaf fan. It raised one hand, palm outward, but Wraith immediately dove into the closest shadow and disappeared.

He didn't have the ability to travel between shadows, using the ability shadow sneak, his species not built to fade away in the darkness. Instead, he could hide in one, then go incorporeal, travel to the shadow he desired, and reform. It took much longer than shadow sneak would, but it worked well enough in most circumstances. Oranguru's gaze slid along the railing shadows, searching for the blood of the haunter's eyes.

Wraith twitched upward from one shadow, claws extended, only to retreat the next second. Oranguru's psychic blasted apart the dark, but there was nothing hidden in its depths.

Ash did his best to fight down a grin as Wraith's stain brought forward an older memory, one of his brilliant victory against the Cerulean Gym. The message was clear.

Oranguru grunted again, shifting forward with its fan held carefully by its side. The golden star on its forehead glowed, searching, but few things could find a ghost that did not want to be found, and the psychic was not one of them. Ash felt the shaded touch against his mind and settled back. Oranguru turned its attention toward a shadow made by a focus blast crater, eyes glowing. A second passed.

Wraith appeared with a howl, reaching outward with vicious glee. Two shadow punches stabbed down, alit with tendrils of ghostly energy, and abruptly vanished into thin air.

Oranguru turned with a speed he hadn't expected, eyes burning, and released an enormous blast of psychic energy. Wraith, too stunned by the loss of his hands to react, popped instantly.

Ash cursed under his breath. He hadn't seen Oranguru use any sort of move, and that meant only one thing. "Normal type?" Sabrina merely tilted her head, but that was confirmation enough. Reining himself from using anything worse, he watched nervously as Wraith's gases retreated upward to reform at a safe distance. The haunter stared, confused, at him. "Normal type."

Wraith hissed at that, claws twitching. He didn't have any time to adjust to the information as Oranguru's eyes flashed and electricity crackled over its leaf fan, jumping from frond to frond. Ash narrowed his eyes. "Dark pulse!"

He howled, pitch gathering in his fanged maw. Oranguru's fingers glowed in response, purple tendrils of energy swirling outward, but Ash reacted violently enough that Wraith dissipated the dark pulse with a wince and faded from the physical world without a word needed. The stored power erupted outward in a blast of energy, but it was weaker, and Ash managed to shoulder it by turning his head aside. A narrow expression appeared on Oranguru's face, fighting past the calm that had been there a moment before. Its gold-blue eyes flicked around the battlefield, hunting for any signs of the haunter. Charge beam stayed firmly in place around its fan, crackling impatiently.

Wraith appeared, immediately deactivating levitation with a furious hiss to dodge the beam of lightning. He reformed his hands from where they had been shattered, baring his fangs at the silent ape. Oranguru raised its fan, bubbling psychic energy building around its star, but Ash's command and Wraith's own fury had a dark pulse primed and launched within a heartbeat.

Oranguru grunted as it was hit, star immediately dulling to a pale yellow. It summoned a wreath of electricity, but was forced to use it almost immediately to explode a dark pulse before it reached it, sending a rippling wave of energy outward. Both it and Wraith winced, damaged by the type.

Drained from its psychic abilities, Oranguru went for the next best thing - a haze of ghostly energy, gathering as spite around its star. It fired it the next second, scoring a hit on the haunter's spines. Wraith recoiled, flinching back. The moment of distraction was enough.

Ash blanched as Oranguru stood up, revealing a bulky height of nearly seven feet, and swung a shadowed fist at Wraith's center. The ghost couldn't do anything but explode into a mass of gases, the dark energy cutting off his access to the physical world.

Oranguru lumbered back, making a move to sit again, but Wraith reformed with a viciousness and sniped a dark pulse from above. The psychic bellowed in pain for the first time, staggering back up to its feet as its fan flared. Wraith blitzed overhead, aided by anger, and blasted it with another dark pulse. The energy exploded out in a shockwave, catching Wraith in the aftereffects, but Oranguru was infinitely worse off. It took a step forward, unable to summon spite nor psychic, and swung with enough force to blast dust away. Wraith, from his position nearly twenty feet up, cackled.

A charge beam splashed fruitlessly against the psychic barriers, through Wraith howled as the remains singed his spines. He spat another dark pulse, Oranguru's form lost in the mass of shadows. It bellowed again and Sabrina's eyes flashed, duller now that she wasn't connected to her pokemon.

It was a battle of endurance. Wraith wasn't strong enough to fully resist the pain using dark pulse brought, but fire punch wasn't a viable option with the foul play Oranguru was all too willing to throw around and hypnosis wouldn't do much of anything with the ambient dark energy already present. He threw one after the other, always focused on keeping Oranguru's back to him, until the behemoth finally bellowed out and collapsed.

Ash grinned, locking eyes with his friend. Wraith laughed in that baritone voice of his, the sound reverberating through Ash's bones, and tucked himself away in the highest corner as the last of the dark energies faded from the field. The type, while powerful, didn't stick around for nearly as long as the other Trio powers.

A smile crossed Sabrina's lips, her final pokemon floating above her upturned palm like a star. "You have done well, Ash Ketchum," she said with a note of finality. "But let us see how far you have truly come."

A tap of psychic energy hit the release button, and Ash steeled himself. But he couldn't help his grimace as Alakazam appeared with the deep thrum of power.

If he had thought Hypno's aura was bad, Ash didn't know where Alakazam would fit. He knew of alpha waves, had had to chase Karma away whenever he wanted to check the time to prevent his clock from spinning backward, but there was something much more _tangible_ in Alakazam's presence, in the simple way he handled his twin shines and glanced casually at his opponent. The hairs on the back of Ash's neck stood straight up and he fought down the urge to sneeze, of all things. A wardrum headache surfaced in the back of his mind.

"Shadow ball barrage," he commanded, keeping his instructions quick. "Get ready."

Wraith hissed, jagged claws extending and snapping outward. Alakazam looked up, disinterested, as a trio of shadow balls rocketed toward his still form. He twitched a singular shine and released three compressed psycho cuts.

The blades sliced directly through the center of the shadow balls and imploded them. Wraith hissed, falling back to avoid the energy, and Alakazam went on the offensive.

A blazing mark of blue appeared on his forehead, energy wafting outward like waves. In a beam that curved and twisted but locked onto Wraith's center despite his best efforts, the energy connected and transferred before Ash could even react. Wraith howled, thrashing.

The daze that had always been present about him before disappeared. His edges sharpened, gaining true lines and curves instead of something that faded away like a mirage. Shadows vanished until he looked like a caricature, too bright and oddly shaped to be real.

Not foresight, but seemingly worse. Ash recognized the energy a moment too late - miracle eye, a strange and relatively unknown power. He and Wraith would be on a time limit. The haunter wouldn't be able to go incorporeal and he'd lose the majority of his defense for that - and that wasn't even mentioning what information Alakazam could have gleaned from the second of connection.

Wraith shrieked, eyes flashing as he tried and failed to melt from the physical world. Ash mentally jabbed at his stain but it was barely _there_ , a mere flicker of shadow instead of the boiling fog, and he couldn't help the surge of panic. Ash doubled over, a cough building in his throat, but he swallowed it roughly and dragged himself upward. "Dark pulse!"

Alakazam's mustache twitched at the word, another flash of energy flickering across his forehead. Ash tensed - miracle eye was an unstudied power, mainly because of its massive difference across pokemon to pokemon - and that could mean anything. Wraith, reduced to merely the thrum of his own ghostly aura and the anger of the fight, summoned the pulsing ball of energy and launched it after only a second.

A signal beam erupted from his shines and slammed into the dark pulse, forcing it to explode once again. Alakazam watched almost warily as Wraith howled, too furious to notice his pain, and dove past the dark energy to launch another blistering wave of shadow balls.

His shield glowed like a sun, a fiery yellow-gold, and it held. Alakazam dispelled it a second later, using unfocused blasts of psychic power to shove at the ghostly energy slowly creeping in. He seemed unworried on the outside, but Ash had spent enough time around Karma to know the prick of his ears. Wraith wasn't thinking rationally - for a ghost, that was deadly.

Miracle eye didn't work like foresight - it made Wraith easier to hit, keeping him trapped in the physical world, but it didn't make _him_ physical, and it was only because of that Alakazam couldn't use his blistering hyper beams he normally used to end matches. Wraith howled once again, fangs glittering, and launched a sludge wave large enough Alakazam was forced to triple shield to catch all of it. The psychic type's ears flicked and he narrowed his eyes, lifting the shield and throwing the poison to the side. He twitched both of his shines up the next second, creating a burning wall of molten gold to slam into Wraith's hastily launched shadow balls. They erupted against the barrier, shattering it, but the bare hint of ghostly energy that washed over Alakazam did little more than annoy him.

Wraith canceled levitate and dropped, avoiding a searing psychic that rebounded off the barriers in an explosion of heat and sound. He caught himself at the last second, far less graceful than Gale in that particular maneuver, and released a wave of roiling smog as he flew back into the fray.

Alakazam's mustache twitched in distaste. He raised himself an inch, psionic bubble so perfectly melded to his body it looked like he was standing regularly, and released an unfocused blast of psychic energy. The smog, having had too little time to properly diffuse into the air, was forcibly gathered in one corner of the battlefield and weighed down. Wraith spun, dodging an errate psybeam, and screeched as his attack failed.

Ash held back another rough cough that tried to pry its way up his throat and searched for another angle. Wraith was ducking and weaving with all of his reduced focus, too fragile to take more than a single hit from Alakazam, but miracle eye had pulled him from the half-and-half he spent his life in and that was screwing him up worse than anything else.

But his unpredictably, heightened now, made him strong. Alakazam threw his shines out, silver glowing, but the barrier he managed to raise in time did nothing for the shadow ball that exploded against his undefended back. Wraith rose, his detached hand swirling around the hunched psychic type to reattach to its orbit around him.

Alakazam twitched, ghostly energy surrounding his form, and for a moment Ash thought that he had crippled him. But the psychic surged back up, releasing a blast of energy from his every pore and forcing the shadows back. Wraith wailed, shooting upward to avoid it, and Alakazam took the momentary break to gather his energy after the successful hit.

His shines burned with power, the edges melting and cracking and breaking all at once as he forced an incredible amount of power through them. Spiraling hues of color started to appear. Wraith only had a second to situation himself with his back to the psychic barriers before a wall of psybeams descended toward him like a tsunami.

He couldn't go incorporeal and he was rapidly running out of energy to reform- "Hands out!"

Wraith reacted without a sliver of hesitation, jerking jagged claws forward as he tried to drop. The psybeams exploded both, sending a crackling shockwave outward, but the rest were still going and Wraith was cornered without a way out-

Another hand moved, catching a psybeam a foot before it hit the ghost. Wraith hissed, the sound too loud without being in Ash's head, and visibly shrunk, spines enfolding back into his body. His eyes burned with senseless fury as an army of claws erupted outward.

Ash caught sight of half a dozen, maybe more, hands as they swiped through the air to catch the psybeams. The ectoplasmic skin popped easily but Wraith was able to retreat, the remains of Alakazam's barrage shattering against the psychic barriers. The psychic typed spun ever so slightly to keep the thrashing haunter in his sight, shines raised and glowing. A bead of silver traveled down his claws before he forced it back.

Wraith was nearly done. He would have been knocked out by that barrage except for the sudden discovery of his ability to create more hands, and even that had shrunken him to a mere fourth of his original size. Ash closed his eyes for a second before reopening them. They had both known how this battle would end when they entered it.

"Dive," he said simply. "Put everything you've got into it."

The command made its way past the viciousness the physical world had installed in Wraith, and he took only a heartbeat to focus in on Alakazam before howling. Ghostly energy sprang unabidden to his ectoplasmic skin, grey lightning racing over his form like the embodiment of a shadow ball, and he dove.

For the first time in the entire match, Ash distantly realized, Alakazam moved. He teleported out of his corner, leaving Wraith to fall. The haunter exploded against the ground in a wave of fury, ghostly energy crackling outward, and instantly popped. His gases burst, rising upward and seething, but Alakazam raised both of his shines, the silver melting in his grasp, and released an immensely powerful psychic that roared across the field.

Wraith's gases burnt before he had the chance to reform. A spike of pain made its way past the daze in Ash's mind and he grappled onto it, grabbing his pokeball. The haunter wasn't truly visible but the pokeball didn't need that, and he was recalled nevertheless.

Alakazam had faced him as a true opponent. That was all he could have asked for.

Wraith's final gambit had been less focused on attacking Alakazam and more on spreading ghostly energies around one corner of the battlefield, the main part of their plan. Alakazam at full strength would be far too much for Wraith or Karma to handle, and all he could hope for was that he would be weakened enough for Karma's play to work.

Ash grimaced, rubbing at his head. Now that the adrenaline had faded away, he felt sick, like cotton spore lined the inside of his mouth and ekans nested in his stomach. Wraith's presence and defenses were trickling back in but he felt so intensely _empty_ without the ghost being there, a part of him stripped away. Holding the railing tightly, he grabbed at the pokeball on his hip. The shock of ghostly energy when he touched the metal helped, if somewhat.

Sabrina's face was sympathetic. "It will pass shortly," she murmured, voice still clear despite her position across the battlefield. "Do you require a break?"

"No," he grunted, prying his arm away from his stomach. Any time off would only leave the battle unstained by Wraith's energy, and he didn't need Alakazam regaining any more power than he already had. It was time to end this. Doing a rather remarkable job at hiding his discomfort, he clicked the release on his pokeball.

Karma appeared with a hiss, letting a volt of psychic energy crackle around her form like a living thing. Sabrina tilted her head to the side, eyes burning, but she didn't say anything as the alakazam displayed her power.

But her show of bravado didn't stop Ash from noticing how her ears flattened as she looked around the field. Scorches marred the dirt from Rhydon's thunder, numerous craters from focus blasts littering what other there was, and for a psychic, the pull of the ghostly energies was as obvious as a blinking sign.

"He's already taken down Wraith," Ash said grimly. Karma's ears twitched, but he could tell she had gotten his hint - ghostly energies were slow to dissolve with so much psychic energy to devour, and one corner of the battlefield was awash with them. Her eyes flicked toward the area before refocusing on Alakazam, who was merely looking at her.

His eyes showed his interest, a spark amongst the pitch, but neither he nor Sabrina looked surprised at her presence.

Ash let out a shallow breath - he had a plan - before nodding at his friend. She nodded back, raising her twin shines, and turned to face her opponent. Alakazam twitched his ears but stayed silent.

Without a command from either trainer, the battle began.

They tested each other in the way psychic pokemon did at first - lances of energy, glowing a pale blue, snapped outward only to be deflected by thin barriers. Alakazam wasn't rushing Karma with his full strength yet - that meant he and Sabrina were wary. Her eyes glowed like fire as she relayed endless commands to her pokemon, head still tilted and expression blank.

Karma teleported as a stronger psybeam sliced through her barrier, reappearing with a nearly-silent _crack_. Alakazam had honed in on where she landed within a heartbeat and launched twin shadow balls, the ghostly energy primed in a second. She was forced to teleport out again, choosing a farther position to limit Alakazam's move choices.

Things complicated quickly enough.

Alakazam stopped his testing and went on the offensive. Karma hissed as a shadow ball formed in front of his shines, growing to a massive size without so much as a blink. She teleported out a second before it hit, leaving it to explode as the psychic barriers and obscure Ash's view of the battlefield in the grey of the shadows. Karma prepared a shadow ball of her own, launching the writhing grey mass as soon as she was close enough, but Alakazam's focus snapped toward it and shattered the move with a tendril of creeping power, just powerful enough to trigger it.

She tried to inflate her psionic bubble, rising to new heights to give her the higher ground, but Alakazam teleported out with nary a sound and appeared behind her. His eyes gleamed.

Alakazam's chest glowed a fierce white and Karma visibly blanched, turning around, as multiple arms extended outward, each clutching a shine of their own. Ash's mind raced - a centralized double team? - but Alakazam gave them no time to adjust before releasing a verifiable barrage of psybeams, all viciously iridescent.

She raised a barrier instinctually, layering it over and over again as the psybeams approached. One exploded against it but the others passed through harmlessly, nearly causing her to teleport out before she realized they were harmless. But while her attention was devoted to trying to block the storm of colors that were much too large and much too bright to allow her sensitive eyes to recover, Alakazam struck.

His eyes blazed a color separate from the blue of Sabrina's communication - a fierce white - and Karma twitched before shining the same. The same thing that Ash had seen in all of the videos; a mental battle alongside that of the physical.

The secondary arms dispelled and the barrage of psybeams alongside them, but Karma barely seemed to notice. She visibly shook as the massive mental will of Alakazam descended on her much younger mind, ears quivering, but she tightened her grip on his shines and pushed onward. Eyes squeezed closed, the majority of her power aimed inward, she released a wave of psycho cuts.

None of them were aimed - she didn't have the prowess, not with the mental battle going on - but they did their job. Alakazam was forced to separate his focus, raising a triple layered light screen around his body to protect from the blades. Karma's eyes lost a little of that white light and she was able to straighten up somewhat from her hunched position, but it was clear it wouldn't last. It would only take Alakazam a moment to build up a defense against the psycho cuts, and then he could go back to crushing her from the inside. But they had known that already.

"Shadow ball!"

Alakazam reacted as fast as Karma, shines raising in preparation to disintegrate another, but Karma didn't so much as look at him. Ears firmly pinned against her skull and eyes still closed, she created a tiny, centralized shadow ball and detonated it directly in front of her.

Karma, Alakazam, and Sabrina all flinched.

The pain of the ghostly energy traveled through Karma and Alakazam's mental connection - and Sabrina through that - and Alakazam was left twitching from phantom pain he hadn't expected. Before he had more than a moment to adjust, Karma teleported out once again - directly in front of him. By the time his pitch eyes focused on her form, she had grabbed his shoulder with her claws and teleported them both out.

Directly into the field of ghostly energy.

Karma hissed audibly as she appeared, psionic bubble nearly dropping to the ground, but she managed to keep herself together.

Alakazam recovered faster than her, shaking off the daze of the ghostly energy with all of his years of training, but Karma wasn't done. Every piece of fur on her body stabbed outward, making her look inflated and strange, but even with the obvious pain in her eyes, she wasted no more than a second to finish her goal.

A shadow ball, as large and unstable as she could make it, dropped.

It exploded outward, blasting both of them backward. Karma inflated her psionic bubble just enough that the explosion knocked her out of the residual ghostly energies, hitting the ground with a _thud_ before dragging herself back up.

The shadow ball joined with the other energy, only growing stronger. It continued outward in a wave of shadows, covering the corner in a haze and making the psychic barriers flare up to defend against the impromptu ominous wind. Alakazam, still recovering from the mental pain of the shadow ball, was quickly overwhelmed. He only had a moment to react and he did so, creating a massive lance of psychic energy to blast away the shadowed energy to defend his physical form.

But in doing so, he left his mental side unattended. It wasn't much, maybe a heartbeat, but that was all the time Karma needed.

Alakazam froze mid sweep, psychic lance fading out of existence. His eyes glittered blue, but it wasn't Sabrina, and it wasn't his own power. He twitched a claw out but little but sparks emerged, his energy forcibly directed elsewhere. Sabrina's eyes flashed.

Ash could see Karma's eyes glow, the light spilling out in front of her. Alakazam jerked, eyes dulling in comparison, as he seemingly fought against something invisible. Karma raised her shines, trembling from the effort, and threw them upward.

Stars exploded. An immense blast of white-blue-gold fire detonated from the tips of Karma's shines, ripping upward like a rocket. The energy hit the psychic barriers with enough energy to make the ground shake, a tremor racing over the earth and making the tiled floor shake. There was a distant roar in his ears from the explosion, a weakness in his limbs even as he struggled to focus on the battle.

Ash dimly realized he was gaping. Alakazam had fought against Wraith already and was in the middle of the battle with Karma and he still had _that_ in his reserves? That was the energy he had been directing at Karma?

Both psychics took a moment to recover, their far more sensitive eyes blinded by the light show. Alakazam hissed audibly, claws scratching at the air as he gathered the last of his energy around him once more. He had lost much in that play, but he was far from defeated.

Karma, on her half, looked much worse for wear. The act of capturing Alakazam's mental probe, distracting and weakening him, and _then_ directing his probe into the physical realm to drain him of energy had not gone exactly to plan. Ash knew that Alakazam was powerful - he'd seen the videos, heard enough stories - but knowing that he could have that amount of energy wasted and still be ready to fight was worrying, incredibly so. He tensed his fists, reaching out to tap her consciousness. She responded with a wash of colors, limbs trembling.

"Just a little more," Ash called, fists clenched and bouncing on his toes. "We're so close- just a little more!"

Karma twitched an ear back at him, slowly floating back to earth. Her eyes shone.

Alakazam hissed across the field at her, but he seemed much less sure of himself than he had a second before. He faced her unflinchingly either way. Sabrina tilted her head and he reacted immediately, still twitching as the remains of the energy loss and ghostly powers crackled over his body.

Barriers swarmed to life around him, gleaming like fire with their yellow hues. Karma raised her shines, limbs sagging, but she waited for whatever his plan would be. She didn't have the energy to waste throwing attacks at him.

Alakazam closed his eyes, focusing, and floated higher. Energy crackled to life over his body, lightning spilling from the insides of his ears to surround him. The psychic power combined with the electricity, creating a light nearly bright enough he couldn't look.

Ash's heart skipped a beat - whatever this move was, it looked plenty strong enough to take out Karma. No. Not when they were this close- he reached out as best he could, thinking loudly of one last plan.

A blue-gold touched his mind in response. Karma let go of her shines, leaving them to flow into inactive form around her neck. Sabrina frowned. Alakazam rose steadily up, power crackling over his skin like true lightning.

"Grab him!" Ash shouted. Karma twitched her ears and _moved_ , using an unrefined blast of power to propel her forward.

Alakazam's eyes flew open as Karma reached out, grabbing his spindly limbs with her own. His energy sparked and popped over their contact, filling the air with the scent of burning fur, but Karma grimly closed her eyes and concentrated. Power exploded outward from Alakazam's body, a desperate attempt to separate him from Karma, but she dug her claws in and refused to let go.

A shadow ball formed in front of her eyes, trembling under her lack of control. Alakazam hissed as Karma abruptly released him, using the remains of her psionic bubble to force him away from her, and threw the shadow ball.

It exploded directly against his chest. He disappeared in a haze of shadows.

Ash couldn't breathe.

When it cleared, it revealed Karma, standing against the ground as her legs shook, and Alakazam collapsed against the earth. A moment later, he disappeared in a flash of scarlet.

Karma sagged, arcs of grey lightning racing over her form, but she was standing. Slowly, ears perking, she raised her head to nod quietly at Ash.

It hit him like a brick. They had won. "We won!" He shouted at her, earning a thrum of blue. She tiredly accepted the praise, much more solemn than normal, and Ash took that as his cue to recall her. Karma murmured her thanks even as she disappeared, psionic bubble decreasing and limbs sprawling. The battle had taken everything from her.

He turned to face Lady Sabrina, who had teleported to his side with nary a hiss. "Congratulations," she said, lips upturned at the edges. "It appears you have earned this back."

Ash snatched up the Marsh Badge when she floated it toward him, rubbing his thumb over the interlocking circles with a wide grin on his face. He had not been entirely convinced he would see it again, if he was being honest. The faint sing of psychic power when he touched it was the same, and he noticed a secondary mark on it - a tiny line carved onto the back, next to Sabrina's name. A showing, maybe, that he had beat the gym twice.

He turned back to look at her, opening his mouth.

"I did not look to see what your plans would be for this battle, if you were curious," she answered his thought. "But I will say you have created an excellent strategy for facing me. Your pokemon were too young and inexperienced to face mine head-on, and I commend you for finding ways around that."

"However." Her voice was sharper. "Your Karma was ill-prepared for her own shadow balls. I assure you, if she was hit by one from Alakazam, she would not have won this battle. You have avoided training her against others of the Trio in your effort to handle her evolution. The way she interacts with other Trio energies has changed - her mind is more protected, her body is not."

Ash nodded. Handling Karma's new power increase had taken the majority of his time, and he hadn't quite considered how her defenses to other Trio pokemon would change. It made sense, though, similar to how Rhydon's weaknesses had changed when he evolved, plates shifting to armor and bulk stretching upward. Strong in mind, weak of body. He'd have to find ways around that.

She tilted her head to the side, and Ash caught a spark of interest. "But I would like to hear what your strategy was. If you will explain?" He didn't question why she hadn't just read his mind for that. He kind of got the idea it was more for his own benefit than hers.

"We couldn't take Alakazam straight on," he admitted. "There wasn't a chance. And Karma couldn't fight him mentally, either. She's too young and yours is too powerful. So I got Wraith to do all he could. His job was to maybe land a hit, get Alakazam focused on head-on battling, and set up an area of ghostly energy. Then Karma could come in. I had her devote her entire focus on capturing Alakazam's mental probe. In every battle you have against another psychic, he always sends out a probe to try and end the battle before it begins, and I knew that if Karma could grab it and get his attention that way, she'd be able to get the majority of his focus on her mentally instead of physically. That's where her psycho cuts come in - she doesn't have the ability to hold both a mental and physical battle at once, so an endless barrage of psycho cuts gives her enough to draw his attention while also being relatively simple to use. And when he caught on, she used shadow ball on herself, weakening him through their connection, and then bring him over to the stained side of the battlefield. After that, she was able to get a loop of her own power around his and direct it elsewhere. Do it enough and it would drain him completely." He couldn't quite help the proud grin that crossed his face.

"I believe I can hear Professor Oak in there," Sabrina said with a hum, ignoring Ash's flush. "As well as several articles online."

"It wasn't _fully_ my idea," he admitted. "But I did add my own parts. Attacking him through their connection was our plan."

She raised an eyebrow, a model of collected curiosity on her face. "And if Alakazam had not flinched from the shadow ball?"

"Oh." Ash paused. "Well, I guess he would probably have used Karma's own weakness from the shadow ball to either go fully mental or physical." A frown grew over his face. "And he'd have beat her, either way, and she wouldn't have been able to do much because of the ghostly energies."

Sabrina hummed her approval. "You designed your plan around Alakazam's surprise at Karma attacking herself. If he had not been, it would have fallen apart rather immediately." Her eyes flashed once. "And if Alakazam had not allowed your Wraith to create an atmosphere of ghosts?"

"He would have recovered faster from Karma's shadow ball, and by the time she got back, he'd have already remade their connection or just hyper beamed her. It would have been over even faster," he sighed, a grimace pulling at his brows. "I guess I did."

"You are not a bad battler," she said, words measured. "Though you have much to learn in terms of proper strategy. But you have won the Marsh Badge, and you are strong for it."

Ash hadn't quite realized how much he had been hoping for those words to be said, and hearing the Lady Sabrina, famed psychic of the Steel Jungle, Master of psychic types and considered Elite Four trainee, say it was like sunlight after darkness. He grinned, thumbing the badge again

"But you have changed much since our last conversation," she said, voice sharper than before. Ash frowned - that seemed like something she should have already sensed - when she spoke again. "You have seen something."

The memory was seared into his brain like a brand. "On Cinnabar, Karma showed me a vision of your psychic's last moments. He was being attacked by something, and was able to project what he was seeing." Ash paused, trying to find the words. "Eyes of Bone. And then he was dead."

"Jioga," she murmured, eyes narrowed. "He left my sight shortly into his journey, and out of courtesy, I did not search him out. It appears I was mistaken." Something twisted in her expression as she voiced the thought, grey eyes dull for a moment. "I will not make that error again."

She focused back on him, blue swirling over her irises once again. "Your Karma reeked of the energy, though I imagine she hardly notices its presence. It has left a resulting shade on you as well. Stay away from the Bone, Ash Ketchum. They are not to be taken lightly."

Ignoring his confusion, she steamrolled on. "Saffron City has changed greatly, as well. No longer is my sight boundless, and I find my gaze slipping over buildings that they should not of." Her eyes went flat, like she was looking elsewhere. "Silph Co has been consumed in turmoil. Something has happened there, something that was hidden from me. In the week you were here last, my time was consumed by incredible psychic accounts from all of Saffron, and by the time I was able to concentrate, many had been fired and their records destroyed. Silph Co refuses to say what has occurred in order to protect their reputation, but I have already made progress in their defenses."

"Wouldn't that be-"

"Under the Indigo League's law, I am the top authority of Saffron City, and that standing does not make it illegal," she answered. "Frowned upon, but not illegal. Silph Co is aware it will only be a short while until I fully breach their defenses. My powers naturally disrupt delicate machinery, so I have found it difficult to get into their security footage, but with Alakazam's assistance I have little left to go." She tilted her head, eyes flashing once. "Silph Co has not-"

She broke off.

Sabrina's eyes burned like twin spotlights. A frown graced her features, gaze shifting elsewhere, before she turned back to Ash. "I am summoned," she said, a note of something in her tone. "Left, straight, second door on your right. Official League Channel."

Without even the hiss of moving air, Sabrina folded through time and space and disappeared. Ash blinked at the area she had occupied, letting out a shallow breath from where he had been holding it in. The presence around his mind vanished as she teleported out, removing the traces of the headache that had begun to form.

Though he hadn't spent tons of time around her, Ash had picked up pretty quickly you listened to Sabrina when she told you to do something. Turning around, he walked out of the battle room and took a left, continuing down the present turn. The open doorway on his right revealed a sitting room devoid of any others, drawn up in shades of grey and cerulean that perfectly matched the robes of most of the psychics' in the building. Ash found it stuffy - who needed curtains that long? They weren't even open.

It took him a moment to figure out the foreign remote, but he eventually found the bookmarked channels. The Officer League Channel was at the top of the list, and a picture emerged from the static to present itself.

A reporter shuffled around a collection of loose-leaf paper, eyes scrolling through a script offstage before jerking back to the camera. She smiled sweetly.

 _An attack occurred on the Fuschia Peninsula, and Koga Duka was sent in to investigate._

 _In his fourth officially released mission as the fourth member of the Elite Four, Koga reported to have found a pack of dewgong badly injured from an apparent poaching attempt. He described them as being "drained of energy, dull, unable to respond to outside stimulus", but once they were exposed to significant amounts of ice and lower temperatures, they recovered. One is still in rehabilitation, but the rest have been released under supervision._

A smile glittering on pure white teeth, the announcer fluttered her eyelashes at the camera. _Despite the fact that the trail was at least two days old, Indigo's very own Koga has found a lead into the poachers' location and is hunting for them now. With any hope, our next report should be of new additions to jail!_

The camera switched to a reporter somewhere in the Fuschia Wilderness, judging by the text crawling across the bottom of the screen. Ash frowned, turning his attention elsewhere. Sabrina couldn't have been called and immediately teleported out only to have the news reporting on the issue less than a minute later. She had been summoned for something else. But then why send him to watch that? Poachers were frustratingly common around Fuschia, where the Wilderness was too vicious to set up much of a perimeter to watch for them. Koga on their trail would definitely put a stopper in their plans - few liked having an Elite Four hunting them - but it wasn't _worldchanging_.

Ash bit back a chuckle at the thought of Koga's muk chasing down poachers in slow motion.

Eyeing the remote in his hand, he had just entertained the thought of trying to find a different channel when a sound surfaced outside the room. Ash jerked, hand falling to his pokeballs, but he managed to remember where he was before releasing Gale into the cramped room. The voices grew louder.

"If you so much as touch my hair again, Kumu will slit your throat while you sleep-"

"Ha! Raichu'll kick his _and_ your scrawny ass without breaking a sweat-"

Ash blinked. He knew that voice. It was coming from the hallway, growing steadily closer as footsteps bounced off of the walls. Removing his hand from his belt, he set the remote back on the television stand and waited. He didn't have to do so for long.

Lt. Surge, Master of electric types and gym leader of decidingly not Saffron City, rounded the corner and stopped. Ash, undecided about whether to wave or nod, did an odd combo of both.

"Runt," the man said, an unchecked grin spreading over his face. "Shoulda guessed you'd turn up sooner or later." He did an odd, three-fingered tap alongside his thigh, though his expression never changed. An instant later, a slender man appeared around the doorframe, narrowing in on Ash with vivid green eyes. It took him a moment longer to recognize him, but the platinum hair and odd cut were far from inconspicuous. Gladion. The man nodded at him, gaze flicking down to glance across Ash's pokeballs.

"What are you doin' here?"

Ash couldn't help the grin that spread over his face. Surge's mere presence was infectious, and he couldn't help but be taunting. "Rechallenging Sabrina. I thought she'd be plenty of a challenge, unlike you."

Surge's laughter was the same barked roar it had been before, and Ash was surprised at how much he relaxed at the sound of it. The giant was unchanged - still loud, rude, and swearing. It was nice in contrast to Ash's ever-moving life.

"Tough words from someone barely at midthigh." His grin widened further, reaching over to sling an arm over Gladion's shoulders. "Runt, you remember Gladion?"

Ash nodded. Shock wave had been an invaluable help in his journey so far, and the help he had given for Gale and Scorch wasn't any shade of shabby. Though he hadn't talked to him much.

Gladion did a sort of spin, ducking low to remove Surge's arm from his shoulder while touching it as little as possible. Surge laughed uproariously, but Gladion simply made a scoffing sound and rolled his eyes. Without so much as a glance back, he turned around and walked out of the sitting room, disappearing from sight.

Surge chuckled. "Don't worry 'bout him. He'll be back soon enough, wouldn't want to miss the chance to gloat about how useful shock wave was for your rhydon." He scratched his stubble, gaze catching on the news report. His expression darkened for a moment before smoothing over, glancing back at Ash. "How shitty'd the battle go?"

Ash sighed, not feeling the need to exaggerate. "Alakazam threw me for a loop. Wraith and Karma were able to bring him down, but we nearly lost there." He dragged a hand through his hair, grimacing. "I had a good strategy, but she laid it all out for me and told me how badly it could have gone, so not that good, I guess. And her other pokemon were really strong too - her oranguru knocked out Rhydon in one solid hit and nearly did the same to Wraith, though that one was because I didn't know it was a normal type, too."

"Alakazam's strong as shit," Surge grunted. "Not much you can do there. And oranguru isn't much better. She had to beat sense into him with Alakazam when she first caught him, and he's been gettin' a big head here again since none of her challengers recognize where he's from or what his typing is."

"Where is he from?" He asked, curious. "He looks like a slaking."

"Alola. Not that common, but damn intelligent. The people there used to think they were humans."

Ash nodded - it looked strangely human, though that might have been its typing talking - and opened his mouth to talk again when he froze.

 _Alola_. Surge. There was-

He became suddenly, painfully aware of Rook's scar. Even in unconsciousness, he surged to life, hissing and tossing as his energy raced outward. Wraith's ghostly fog rose to match him but faded away a moment later, and Rook continued further in to reach Karma's mirage of colors. Ash grimaced, grabbing at his skull, pain throbbing behind his eyes. Rook's consciousness dug into Karma's psychic energy, hunting for _something_.

And there, nestled at the depths and so perfectly camouflaged Ash would have never seen it, was an alien presence. Strong, psychic, thrumming with energy. Not Karma.

An intruder?

Rook's scar lunged forward like the blades he was made of, cleaving through the energy and dissolving it in a burst of white. Karma's energy surged to cover it. The pawniard retreated afterward, the lull of the pokeball and presence of his injuries strong, but he had sensed something irrevocably _wrong_ with his bisharp and would only rest once it was destroyed.

Ash gasped back into the physical world, feeling like an invisible weight had been removed from his skull. Something pounded fiercely behind his eyes, but now there were memories, memories bright and clear where they had once been dull and muddled-

"Runt." Surge's voice was wary, eyes narrowed and hand on Ash's shoulder. "Are-"

"The war." Ash struggled to voice the thoughts running through his mind at the speed of an arcanine. "The war. You said the war in Alola. I forgot. _How_ could I forget-"

Surge hissed from between gritted teeth. "What?"

"Hypno. She got training fighting the ghosts down in Alola, she would be strong enough to break Team Rocket's drugs. Kiawe was too annoying, but Professor Kukui was nice. You spent two years fighting there in a war, a war that Indigo doesn't have any papers on." He sucked in a breath. "Gladion's from there. He came to Indigo, and he's serving under the League, doing whatever they need him to do. But he doesn't like it. And now he's here with you, so what-"

"Ash." There was something naked in Surge's tone, something that made Ash shut up and listen despite the thoughts racing in his mind. That was the first time the gym leader had used his real name. "Ash. How do you remember that?"

Rook's presence was stronger than normal, river running with clashing thoughts and sounds. "My pawniard. When you said Alola, he sensed another presence in my mind and destroyed it. I couldn't remember anything about it before."

Surge removed his hand from Ash's shoulder, exhaling slowly. After a moment where the giant seemed to collect himself, he turned on his heel and left the room.

Ash was left alone and confused. He grabbed at his pokeballs - he needed a member of his team, Rhydon's friendship or Scorch's warmth or Wraith's strength, his thoughts were rushing to fill in the hole that _thing_ had been in and he still didn't understand anything about Alola despite remembering everything all at once-

Surge reappeared, this time with Gladion at his side. He had lost his habitual smirk and Gladion's face was far from blank, eyes burning. "We'll be staying in Saffron for the next two weeks," he said, voice rumbling like Rhydon's. "Same with you." The formality was nearly as strange as everything else.

Ash made a movement to open his mouth but Gladion shook his head, stepping forward. His voice was the same lilt it had been, twisting in an accent Ash now recognized as Alolan. "There's something we need to talk about."

xXx

 **Happy birthday, Uprising! It's been a long year bringing this story up, and I'm seriously proud of what's been made. And there's plenty more to come!**

 **This chapter isn't my best work, more choppy and full of filler, but I wanted to get something out before a decently long hiatus I'm going to have to pull. These next few months are going to be incredibly busy because I am directing a musical with my school program. I will continue this story in full swing once that is over, but just warning you guys for now.**

 **So thanks for reading, and please review!**


	14. Ground Up

Gladion's fingers steepled beneath his chin, green eyes narrowed. Surge stepped back silently as the shorter man began to pace, his steps a strange mix between jerky and smooth.

"Two weeks is enough of a start, I suppose." He tilted his head back as he muttered, seemingly completely unaware of the room despite his presence in it. "Get up early, gather your team, and spend an hour regrouping and discussing any further strategies for the day you'd like to work on. Then I'll take over. Surge can show you some basics - you look like you barely know what a punch is - and then your team can rest an hour or two before eleven."

Ash didn't have any time to be properly offended before Gladion clicked his hands together, finally turning his piercing eyes toward him. "Surge can talk to you tomorrow while I review a strategy for training. Get your team healed up."

Surge stepped to the side with practiced ease as Gladion slunk out of the room, pushing his platinum hair back behind his shoulders, and moved back to his position once the other man had left. Ash stared at him, all wide eyes and confusion. His mind still twanged from whatever Rook had found, a residual biting presence that tore at Karma's colors even as she rushed to fill the empty space. He opened his mouth, paused, and closed it, not quite knowing what to say.

Gladion wanted to train him.

He had seen the man's crobat, burnished claws and purple fur and vivid eyes all at the peak of its strength, and the strange, dark type from Unova he couldn't quite remember the name of. Zorok? Whatever it was, it wasn't hard for Ash to tell that he was strong. Working with Sabrina, the most famed psychic in all of Indigo, was another tick mark. And then there was the fact of how he now served under the League, but he was from _Alola and he didn't like it here but he didn't like it there either and he had the accent that somehow Ash had never placed_ -

Surge cleared his throat with a bark-like growl and Ash jerked out of the whirlpool he had rapidly been sweeping himself into. He grimaced and rubbed at the back of his neck, able to feel the feverish heat beneath his fingers. Everything was new, confusing, and he desperately wanted a member of his team here to steady himself.

"That's Gladion for you," Surge rumbled, relaxing minutely from the iron-shouldered stance he had held before. "But don't worry. Your pokemon will have his skill damn beat into their skulls by the time he's done with them."

Ash frowned. "What's going on?" _With everything, training, what does Alola mean-_

Surge matched his grimace, sighing in a low, deep way that almost seemed to make the floorboards creak. "Alola is… tricky. If you remember it now when you couldn't before, there's no chance it's gettin' erased again, so the best option is just to learn it all now." He shrugged. "And we really are here for two weeks, explorin' some shitty things happening around Silph Co. But we aren't of much help when Sabrina's been meditating hour in an' out. So might as well train you." Surge's grin bared his teeth, eyes sharp. "You're one of the few ones with potential. Wouldn't want that to go to waste, huh?"

Though his mind pounded and his head ached and all of his Trio pokemon's defenses were fighting against an enemy already gone, Ash couldn't help but perk up at the mention of an explanation. There were still so many things he didn't understand - Goodshow working with Team Rocket, Karma's projection, how Viper still wasn't caught - and to have anything make sense was a gift. His mind jolted again with another flash of words.

"What do I need to do?" He asked, clenching his fists by his side. He needed to train, his team needed to train. Giovanni was the next gym leader he had to face and the ground type Master was the strongest in the region for a reason.

Ash was going to beat him. He had to.

Surge chuckled, though it still sounded painfully off when contrasted with the man's wary gaze. "Work with me. Gladion'll be takin' your team to make some decent battlers out of them. He's probably watching the recording of your match with Sabrina now, with that bit you mentioned about Oranguru-" he grinned as he caught Ash's wince "-and he'll have enough ideas for a month of training. I'll just be showing you some more advanced trainer stuff, things you should have learned from the beginning but most never do." His eyes narrowed, an annoyed expression flashing over his face. "That means I'll need some lessons and shit."

He dragged a hand over his face, fingernails scratching at the stubble he seemed to permanently have. "You're lucky I have a slight want to see you up in the echelons, otherwise this'd never happen." Surge flicked a mocking salute in his direction, grin widening, before striding from the room. His natural gait made it sound like stomping.

Ash frowned at the empty space.

Training, explanations, and advanced lessons. It seemed far too good to be true, though he didn't want to look a trade ponyta in the mouth. There were rare opportunities that a gym leader would step down and teach a random first-year trainer.

Then again, it was just as rare that a first-year trainer would have done half the things he'd faced on his journey so far. With the revitalization of Team Rocket, the League would need trainers who could pull their own weight in the coming years, and he had already shown his merit in his battles against them. This training could mean anything; a sign of goodwill, a prepping for future employment in the League, or-

Or a test.

Ash's hands fell to his pokeballs, feeling the life from each of them. Already, Rhydon's was beginning to warm as he recovered from his loss of consciousness, minor twitches and tremors racing over the metal surface. Rhydon was strong - clean hits were easier for him to recover from instead of exhaustion, and with enough healing he'd be ready to go again. He imagined his starter bellowing on a battlefield, sand and rock swirling over his dorsal spines, a glowing crobat swooping overhead.

Training. Before Sabrina, that had been all he had done, but it seemed it was far from over. Two weeks felt like forever but that had been on the road, with the only companion the occasional smell of far-away roselia and the rustle of emerald beech leaves against each other. Here, with the constant distractions from the Silver Jungle of Saffron and the active presence of other humans, he doubted it would feel nearly that long. He popped his neck, made to take a step forward to head toward the Pokemon Center, and jerked back with a yelp.

Sabrina stared at him coolly, her hair twisted out of its previous neat alignment and the purple of a bruise blooming high on her cheekbone. Her eyes flashed as she stared around the room, gaze snapping to the still-murmuring TV before falling back onto Ash.

"Can I stay here?" He asked, the words falling out as one. "Surge and Gladion want to train me."

A shadow of a smile flickered over her face, the humor more present in her eyes than any sort of expression. "I suppose."

She pushed off the floor, hovering a fingerspan above the floorboards with a sort of ease that matched a true psychic pokemon. It took him a moment to figure out why - she was holding her left leg awkwardly, slightly bent, and he could see another arching stream of blue-black twisting over her knee. Strands of her hair shifted as she floated higher, tilting back a degree to relieve more pressure off of her leg. With a twitch of her eyebrow Ash guessed he was supposed to understand as a summon, she turned and floated smoothly out of the room.

It was very strange, watching her move. She was obviously going forward but her legs didn't move, frozen in an illusion of walking. Ash trailed after her, idly noticing how the TV clicked off when she exited the room.

"What happened?" He asked, unable to stop how his attention returned to the bruise over her cheek. The one over her knee looked several days old, at least, and there was no chance he would have noticed her levitating an inch or so from across an entire battlefield during his challenge. Sabrina was supposed to be a psychic, never getting into the thick of things if not behind immense shields, and he hadn't heard of any rising criminals strong enough to get past her defenses in Saffron.

"As I said," she hummed, turning to face him while still moving forward. He found it incredibly discerning. "Saffron City has been in a period of turmoil. The bursts of power have upset psychics across both humans and pokemon, and I am the only one with sufficient strength to shock the upset back into focus. It put me in the front lines more than I would like, but there is no way around it." Her gaze shifted to his forehead, where there only remained tiny scars from Karma's claws. "Silph Co has been the center of it all, and all I have managed to find are notes of some massive project, one started nearly eleven years ago. There are no other records of it, and none of the workers I have gained access to, not from their dark-protected upper floors, have no knowledge of it in the slightest."

Ash frowned. Eleven years? He had heard that number before, even though it had been about a relatively inactive timeframe. Officer Jenny had said that was when Team Rocket had made its last public spectacle-

Sabrina's eyes flicked to him, burning. "Do not say that aloud," she murmured. "Silph Co is under investigation. With the current disrupt of Goodshow's suspected alignment with Team Rocket, we need to handle everything as quietly as we can to avoid mass panic. Giovanni is finding more and more hidden members within the League and Koga has been an excellent deference to criminal outbursts. We cannot lose the advantage we have now."

He nodded his head, but there was no way he was forgetting what she had said. Sabrina seemed far more open about her and the League's affairs now, and he guessed it had to do, in some part, with Surge and Gladion's offer to explain everything. Gary and his encounters with Team Rocket had given him a leg-up into this darker world of Indigo, and he doubted there'd be any way for him to fade back into the ignorance of before. "I understand."

"You do." She stared at him for a moment longer, and now the feather-soft touch of her presence grow longer, sharper. With eerie precision, she bypassed Wraith's defenses and entered his surface level of thoughts. Ash winced but her presence was barely noticeable if not for the odd, spinning patterns of Wraith's fog as she disrupted it, shuffling through his mind. Her eyes glowed a mirage of colors.

"You are curious about Jioga?"

He was, though he hadn't been aware he was thinking about it at that moment. Her explanation of the psychic that started his journey with a charmander and personal recommendation from her had been vague at best, and that was without the occasional flickers of Bone he saw in his darker dreams. His desire to verbally ask a question lost its turn with his embarrassment at previous attempts and so he waited quietly for her answer, tapping his fingers along his belt. Her eyes flashed brighter as she searched his mind.

"The Nurse Joy at Cinnabar Island said a cloud of gastly?" At his nod, she continued. "That is false. Gastly are rarely, if ever, found outside of Lavender Town in Kanto, and such a low population-dense area such as the Seafoam Islands would be one of their least likely places to be. Jioga was on the Seafoam Islands yes, or somewhere close, but his body was found in the water, half-frozen. His death is still being investigated, though I have reasons to believe that Viper may have been involved in some way."

Ash blinked - Arceus, this was so much better than the half-truths he got when he asked most anyone else - and nodded. His gaze shifted back to the hall. Her tone had been rough, something bitter and also sad. The way she said Jioga's name spoke of familiarity.

There was a reason he had been the one to start his journey with a charmander - he had been personally recommended by Sabrina herself. That meant she had actively watched his journey, seen him grown, and labeled him as worthy. There was no way of doing that without interaction.

It took him a moment to remember that she could read his mind, but by then, she had already turned back away from him and continued to float down the hall. They passed several wide-grained oak doors in silence before stopping at an open archway, a warm light spilling from within. "This is where you will heal your pokemon."

Ash paused, glancing inside. It looked eerily similar to a Pokemon Center, but instead of Nurse Joy, a hypno stared tiredly around the room. Its black eyes met Ash's without an ounce of hesitation before returning to its silent vigil, pendulum twitching in its grasp. A few old videophones lined the walls, alongside a pokemon transferal station. He opened his mouth to ask about, well, an actual Pokemon Center when Sabrina spoke again.

"Nurse Joy handles more pressing injuries, but as psychics, true battles are uncommon. Exhaustion is much more easily treatable, and the League has supplied me with this station to mimic a Pokemon Center in order to reduce traveling time and distractions for the students who study here. Normally, it is only of use to the students of my school." Her eyes flashed to him, glowing dully from within. "Though I suppose I can make an exception for you."

Ash sorely wished he knew whether she was joking or not. Her expression betrayed nothing, and the feather-soft touch of amusement against his mind was not nearly enough to go off of. He settled for an awkward half-smile and swung his gaze back toward the quiet room.

"Your room is down the hall, labeled under the- ah, my apologies." Ash blinked, turning back to her, only to see Sabrina shaking her head. "You would not be able to see the markers we use to differentiate our rooms. Nevertheless, simply continue down this hall and your room should be the fifth on the right. It is unlocked - we have no need for protections here, where multiple psychics constantly patrol for everyone's safety. I must go, I'm afraid, but I will be there tomorrow for your training."

Her eyes were tired as they flashed, body wavering temporarily around the edges before she teleported out. A soft _crack_ echoed down the hall. Ash had to wonder how exhausted she was to show even those infinitesimal signs of weakness - with her powers, it was easy to hide everything behind an unbreakable mask.

Glancing down the hallway, he managed to see the rough idea where his room would be before heading into the healing room. The hypno looked at him again, pendulum swinging softly as he stepped closer. Detaching several of his pokeballs, he handed over everyone but Tide and Bulbasaur. "I don't know what the cutoff for injuries is - should I bring them to Nurse Joy immediately or see what you think?"

Hypno blinked sluggishly at him, but he could sense a note of contempt in its billowing presence, somewhat akin to a sheet in the wind on the edges of his Trio sense. It grabbed his pokeballs with a curl of psychic energy and teleported out with a soft _crack_ , leaving the room empty.

"Okay." Ash wasn't that concerned - if he couldn't trust Sabrina, he wasn't sure _who_ he could - but it was strange to feel all three of his Trio pokemon disappear beyond his limited sense. Their defenses dimmed, if somewhat, and he stretched idly as the room in his mind increased.

But there was another pokeball on his waist, and his task was far from done.

The sting of the ice type's presence raced up his arm in a familiar manner as he unhooked Tide's ball, aiming it at the center of the room. He pressed the release, blinking quickly to hide the scarlet burst of light.

Tide appeared with a fierce bark, reared upward with his whiskers splayed and brown-black eyes glowing regally. Ash winced as the sound reverberated around, but he couldn't hide the amusement he felt nonetheless. Tide was, well, predictable. Comfortingly the same.

The ice type scanned the room for a second, and when his gaze tracked back to Ash, he seemed thoroughly disappointed at the lack of any psychic types for him to demolish. Ash grinned, reaching forward to pat the sealeo on the dome of his head. Tide chuffed, icy breath bringing ducklett flesh to Ash's skin.

"Hey, bud," he offered, smoothing over the ruffled fur. "How've you been?"

Tide barked, head tilted to the side. It made sense - Ash had had a full team meeting and pep talk just that morning - but he still seemed to feel the thread of melancholy in the air. He grunted a question, eyes searching. Ash couldn't hold back his sigh.

"We beat Sabrina!" Quickly, Ash dug through his various pockets before he found the rounded edge of the Marsh Badge, holding it up proudly. It still had the ding he'd given it when he first got it, he noticed with a wry grin. "And there's… something else. Gladion. Do you remember what Scorch told you about him?"

Tide nodded his head briefly. The second-in-command was always the one to go to for updates, and Scorch took her duties very seriously. There was rarely information that could stay unknown for more than a day.

"He and Surge were at the gym, and after the challenge, we talked. And, as it turns out, there was _something_ inside me that was blocking my memories. Of Alola."

Tide immediately growled, shifting into a battle stance with his flippers braced against the floorboards. Ice glittered out from his back, wood creaking beneath his weight as he prepared himself. Ash yelped and flung himself forward. "No- I'm fine now! Seriously! Rook got it out."

The sealeo relaxed - somewhat - and stared at him with confused eyes.

"Yeah. It's weird right now, bud, but we're going to work through it. But to do that, I'm going to be training with them for two weeks. And I don't know whether you can stay here, okay?"

Tide stiffened, and Ash rushed to fill the silence he had created. This wasn't what he wanted - seven pokemon wasn't _enough_ , he needed his whole team to feel like this journey was worth it - but it wasn't a random choice. Tide needed to know that.

"You're one of my most straight-forward battlers, and what you really need to work on is power and being in your element. Saffron City might be the absolute worst place to do that because it's all buildings - the largest thing of water is a display pond. There's some room for you to grow here, but it isn't nearly enough." He rested an arm over Tide's broad back, practically able to feel some of the tension leave the ice type. There was a reason behind it all- he wasn't just getting shoved to the side. Ash guessed, that at Tide's core, that was what he was most afraid of - being left behind and forgotten. He fought and challenged and brawled constantly so he wasn't forgettable.

"Professor Oak has a gyarados, one he's had since his own journey. I'd like for you to work with it. You remember Captain Fergus?" At Tide's sudden curling over his lip, revealing the teeth that would one day grow into fangs, Ash hid a laugh. "Yeah. You never got to fight his gyarados, but here's your chance. You've fought Arcanine plenty of times, but you need to get back into your element to figure out how to really hunt. Ice beam should help you get some rough ice floes, and I'd like you to start working on the basics of aqua ring. There's not a whole lot you can do right now beyond getting a sense for the water, which you can't do here."

Tide made a low, mournful sound in the base of his throat. Ash detached his arm from the sealeo's back, turning to fully face his sixth pokemon. "Are you okay with that?"

The ice type whined, sounding almost pitiful, before he nodded his head. A fire burned in his eyes, even though he bumped his head against Ash's chest hard enough to make him stumble back a step. The trainer grinned, patting him on the head.

"Only two weeks bud, then you'll be back faster than you know. Say hello to Arcanine for me, okay?" Tide barked, nodding his head, and shuffled back a step as Ash stood up. He barked once more as he was recalled, disappearing in a cloud of mist before being drawn back into the ball. Ash rolled it around in his palm even as he crossed to the closest videophone, frowning at the much older controls before managing to find the buttons he needed to make it work. It felt like it'd be a lot easier to actually go to the Pokemon Center, but there was already a ton he needed to do tonight and he didn't want to waste time.

The screen flicked to black, a cheerful eight-note tune chirping in the background. After nearly five minutes that Ash spent rolling Tide's pokeball between his hands, the connection finally latched and the screen opened to Professor Oak's ruffled hair and bagged eyes. "Hello?"

"Professor Oak!" Ash grinned.

The man blinked rapidly, eyes flicking between asleep to conscious. "Ash?"

"Hello," he offered, hoping to restart the professor. By the sudden jerk as if he had kicked himself, the man seemed to be waking up again. "Were you asleep?"

Professor Oak made a sluggish sniff. "As if. Genius never sleeps. What troubles you, my boy?"

Ash held up the Marsh Badge he had slipped back into his pocket, nearly fumbling it in his attempt to show off the interlocked circles. "I won!" Before Professor Oak could offer congratulations, he moved quickly on. "But I'm going to be staying here for a few weeks for training, so I was wondering whether I could send Tide over and get Scorch back."

"Oh?" Professor Oak hid a yawn in the palm of his hand. "You spent the entirety of your travels to Saffron City training. Are you not going to rest for a bit?"

He hadn't actually considered that - though he probably should have - but in the end, he settled for shrugging. "Someone offered to train me, and I don't want to pass that up. After it all, I'm going to be making my way back to Viridian, and then I'll finally challenge Giovanni. I'm going to need all the time in the world to train for that."

Professor Oak's eyes widened in realization. "Ah, of course. That's very good of you, but please don't forget to rest as well and give your team a break. Giovanni is the strongest gym leader for a reason - you need your team in perfect shape to take him on."

Ash nodded, bouncing Tide's pokeball between his fingers. That seemed to draw Professor Oak's attention because he nodded again. "Alakazam can find Scorch soon enough, it should only take a moment." The screen went black a moment later.

Ash let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, releasing the pressure in his chest with a wheeze. He hated not being told everything and here he was going, pretending that everything was fine and not that he hadn't just ousted something hiding within his own mind to unlock memories of a secret war in a far-off region. Arceus.

The screen flickered back on before it seemed even a moment had passed, jerking Ash out of his spiraling thoughts, and he turned back to face the screen. Professor Oak reappeared, a dull pokeball already slotted into the containment system, somehow looking even more tired than he had at the start. Ash mirrored him with Tide, pressing the black activation button. With the _crack_ of teleportation, both pokeballs switched.

He grinned, snatching up the metal far too warm to match any of his others. Professor Oak plucked up Tide's, turning back to Ash. "I wish you luck with your training, my boy. Now, however, I'm afraid I must find something soft or else I will pass out on my own videophone. Good night!"

Ash echoed him, clicking disconnect as soon as the other man did. He cradled the pokeball to his chest - for Scorch to have been so quickly found, he guessed she had been resting, which meant she wouldn't need healing. The hypno was back - though he hadn't noticed _when_ \- and it stared at him with pitch eyes as Ash padded from the room and entered the hallway.

The fifth door was easy enough to find, thick-grained wood with a tinge of something invisible running over the surface, something Trio related. Frowning, he swiped his hand in front of it, feeling the cold-hot psychic power that made his mind twitch. The markings Sabrina was talking about?

He swung the door handle and pushed it open, stepping into the pleasantly air-conditioned room. It was always hotter in cities, especially one as full as Saffron. Shutting the door behind him, he quickly examined the room.

A bed took up most of one wall, a side table on its left and a desk at its end. The closet was small, only one door, but he had never really used one anyway. A window threw the last of the day's light into the room with renewed vigor as soon as he entered, making everything glow with the golden hour.

Ash all but threw his bag onto the desk and immediately clicked the release on his pokeball.

Scorch emerged with a yip, stretching her tails over her head as if she had been in the ball for days instead of minutes. Her gaze immediately snapped to Ash.

He laughed as she pounced on him, dragging him to the floor with her surprising weight and hitting his chest with her head. His hands stroked everything he could reach, feeling the tangles and burrs that spoke of weeks without a proper grooming session, or even a fire bath. She must have been truly training hard.

"Hey, Scorch," he said with a grin, thumbing her ears. She yipped again at him, breath hot, and swung her tails around to curl against his back. "How was it?"

She did an admirable impression of rolling her eyes, crest flaring as she shook her head. He laughed and patted behind her ears, the warmth spilling out from her fur and combating the air condition unit. She leaned into his touch, nearly as needy as she had been when she was still a vulpix.

But then she stepped back, crimson eyes flashing. She nosed at his chest, gaze surprisingly serious, and stared at him. He frowned, pausing in his pettings, as her eyes flickered blue with her fledgling psychic abilities. She wasn't to the point of being able to communicate psychically with him, but her intention was clear.

Ash grimaced and rested his head against the bed frame, reaching forward to brush against Scorch's mane. She churred, leaning into his touch, golden fur just warm enough it soothed the aches that had built up over the course of the past few weeks. He pulled her closer, Scorch allowing herself to be manhandled into his lap as he stroked her fur.

He had forgotten how well she could smell emotions. He really shouldn't have. It was far easier to hide something like this from other humans, but now that he was alone with her, the dam splintered and snapped.

"It's just- a lot has happened, you know?" She tilted her head to the side, eyes flashing. "Everything. The Fishing Centre back in Vermillion, Charizard, what happened to Gary, Viper, St. Anne…" he dragged a hand over his face, calluses catching on his nose. "I'm ten - well, nearly eleven - but it doesn't stop."

Scorch purred, nosing at his chest.

"Team Rocket shouldn't exist but it does, and for some reason I keep getting pulled into it. Wraith, Bulbasaur, Tide - I wouldn't give them up for the world but I just wish it had happened differently. Like I was some other kid, finding a gastly around Lavender Town, or hunting through the Safari Zone for months to find a lone bulbasaur, and just stumbling across a sealeo when it was migrating from Hoenn. I don't know."

She yipped at him, bumping her muzzle against his shoulder. He smiled and smoothed back her crest, watching the hypnotic spin of her tails. Though he couldn't understand her in the way of Karma or even Wraith, the burning determination in her eyes was clear. Scorch purred deeply once he seemed to get it, a random flame running down the length of her release tail.

"It's worth it for you guys," he said, pulling his head away from the bed frame. Her purr seemed to shake the floorboards. "And, well, if we keep encountering that stuff, I guess we better be ready for it."

With a grimace, his back cracking like his entire spine had snapped, Ash stood and stretched his arms over his head. The sunlight was still there, if weak, and that meant daylight enough to start studying. Gladion was going to test him, though he didn't quite know what his training entitled, and he needed to be ready to match him. He forced his insecurities out of his mind, focusing entirely on the upcoming days.

He had beaten Sabrina. He wouldn't stop now.

xXx

Ash had only just begun to shake the water droplets from his hair when an earthquake-esque pounding surfaced on his door. He yelped, towel falling from his shoulders, but apparently that was answer enough as Surge shouldered through the door with a grunt. Bulbasaur snarled at him, claws twitching and eyes aglow, but the gym leader spared the grass type only a glance before turning to Ash. He jerked a thumb toward the hall, a grin stretching over his face.

"Time to get started. Gladion's ready to talk you through these weeks of trainin'." With that, he marched cheerfully back out the door, seemingly as awake as he always was. Which was unfair.

Ash let out a sigh, feeling a wave of relief come over him. He had set his alarm - also known as Scorch - an hour early to give him some more time to prepare, but apparently, Gladion didn't believe in beauty sleep. He cracked his neck with a vengeance, thrashing his hair with the towel until it reached a medecorum of dry, and threw everything back into the restroom. Bulbasaur stretched, bulb glimmering as she harnessed some of the sunlight she had absorbed yesterday to give her a boost of energy. Ash reached into his bag, shuffling through the various jars of his food pocket until he managed to find the one he was looking for.

Bulbasaur's eyes lit up as he tossed the rawst berry at her, catching it easily with her uninjured vine and biting it in half. She growled happily at the taste, eating the other half, and snarled up at him in thanks. He grinned, though he was immediately distracted by Scorch's sudden pleading presence by his side.

"Not now. You can have some-" he ran through any remaining spicy berries he might have left "-cheri berries once we finish up with training. Come on, both of you."

Scorch whined but understood - she'd need the high-protein pokemon food for the upcoming training, if the presence of Surge was any indicator. He doubted there'd be much time where she could kick back and nibble on berries during the training.

He pried open the door with a grunt from where Surge had nearly embedded it into the frame, snagging his pokedex on the way out. While he hadn't had much time to take notes last night, he had plenty taken over his journey so far, and he rather hoped that would be enough.

Ash took a moment to remember everything, retracing his steps to the healing room. Hypno was there, looking mightily unchanged - he guessed its ability was insomnia - but his pokeballs were not. Shaking off the tinge of worry, he traveled back to the gym battlefloor.

That, at least, was easier to find. He idly wondered whether Sabrina had made her school this complicated on purpose.

In the minute ways Ash was only just able to pick up on, Bulbasaur looked uncomfortable. The constant presence of psychic power pressed against her poison sacs, ready to destabilize the internally fragile organs, but she seemed to refuse to acknowledge it. Her claws clicked against the wood as she padded along, sniffing curiously at something Ash couldn't pick up on.

The battlefield had been reset to what it had been before he fought, the darker brown of overturned dirt the only sign that anything had happened. It was weird, comparing that to the enormous furrows and blackened burns of just yesterday, but he guessed gym leaders would have to have a highly-honed strategy for cleaning up battlefields.

Ash walked in, glancing around, only for Bulbasaur to throw herself in front of him with a snarl. Her injured vine lashed out and snatched a projectile out of the air a foot before it would have hit his chest.

He stiffened, watching Bulbasaur crouch in a fully-defensive position. Her growl split the air.

Surge laughed uproariously from his position to the side of the door, head thrown back and shoulders shaking. Ash frowned and turned to Bulbasaur, seeing her cautiously inspecting what appeared to be a… sandwich? The opening of her bulb twitching as though she wanted to release sleep powder, she warily offered him the wrapped meal.

"Eat on the grind, runt," Surge called, flicking his own wrapper into a nearby trash can. "Gladion doesn't like to wait."

Ash sighed, prying off the waxy paper as he trotted toward the giant of a man. Scorch padded beside him but Bulbasaur trailed behind, still snarling at the man who had thrown something at her. Surge seemed less than affected, easily holding five pokeballs in one of his massive hands. "Catch."

Ash almost managed to do so, even with his hands preoccupied with the sandwich. Scorch kicked off the ground in a narrow arc and nabbed the last one before it hit the ground, held gently between her fangs to avoid adding any more flaws. Ash set his sandwich - a sort of style he recognized as coming from the Seafoam Islands - on the observatory benches for gym challenges and hurriedly shuffled the pokeballs around, finding their specific dings to remember whose was whose. Scorch offered the one she had caught - Karma's, judging by the discolored splotch over the red half - and he slipped it back onto his belt. The familiar weight of them all was comforting.

He had only just glanced up to ask Surge what he'd be doing when Gladion appeared from a side entrance, green eyes immediately landing on him.

Despite it being too early for the sun to warily show its face, Gladion looked as put-together as he always did, dreadlock-esque hair tucked back and grey-lined black clothing proper. He crossed the room with an easy gait, drawing Ash's attention to the multiple great balls over his waist. One was even a type he didn't recognize, bright blue with protruding gold rings glittering serenely in the first slot of his belt.

He wasted no time. "I watched your battle with Lady Sabrina. While your strategies were far from hopeless, you use your pokemon in the same ways; rhydon as a battering ram, haunter as a sword. For now, it makes them predictable. For later, it makes them useless."

Scorch bared her fangs, tails swirling behind her pinned ears. Gladion glanced at her with a single eyebrow raised, arms crossed. Surge stifled a snort. "And I suppose you run and blast your opponents with fire? Is that it?" The ninetales stiffened, scarlet eyes pinpricks of flame. "As I said. The same ways."

Ash nodded, trying to absorb everything at once. This was far different from Sabrina's advice. While she had just commented on his strategies and how they wouldn't have worked under slightly different circumstances, Gladion was going for his pokemon's base ways of attacking - he fought down the urge to take out his pokedex to record it.

"I have come up with a few new tactics that may help your pokemon develop to be unbeatable later on, instead of just relying on power as you are now. Follow me."

Ash tore into his sandwich as they walked, thoroughly enjoying the spicy sauce, and chucked the wrapper into the first trash can he found. Scorch hadn't stopped glaring at Gladion since his comment, flames racing over her golden fur in a greatly-reduced flash fire. A fire type's pride was a thing to behold, and he found himself immensely curious at how she would handle herself training with him.

The Saffron City gym wrapped around a plot of land like an ekans, coiling around a centerpiece of two battlegrounds about the same size as the main gym. Immensely powerful psychic barriers gleamed over the delicate trees and flowers surrounding the grounds, strong enough that Bulbasaur snarled and Ash could taste the power on his tongue. Gladion seemed unaffected, but he could see the way the man's hand rested on his second pokeball as if for comfort.

Surge was Surge. He ignored the psychic barriers entirely.

Ash squinted as he walked, the artificial lights unable to truly mimic the sun's presence, forcing him to rely on Scorch's ambient glow to make his way around. Gladion stopped in the center of the primary battlefield, examining the scattered rocks and swaths of mud as if the were the most interesting thing in the world. Ash held back a shiver and wished he had brought his long sleeves - despite the Welcoming Day of the First and the official start of winter still being a month or so off, there had been a bitter cold spell recently.

"Release your team," Gladion said, voice broking no argument.

Ash's hand fell to the familiar half-circle dent on his first pokeball and released Rhydon, who bellowed happily and slammed into the ground hard enough to send a tremor outward. He turned to Ash and spun his horn curiously, no doubt recognizing Surge behind him, revealing the still pale splotch over his chest from Oranguru's hit. Ash offered him a grin in response as he released the rest of his team.

Gale shrieked, crest flaring and black eyes searching as he took in the definite lack of Sabrina's gym - apparently, he hadn't been healed at all and simply left in his pokeball. When only brown-green grass greeted him instead of a psychic opponent, he squawked annoyedly and honed in on the next threat of Gladion.

Wraith shook himself, spines reshuffling fluidly, and dove to be next to Bulbasaur. She growled a welcome, straightening up now that his natural presence reduced the pressure of the psychic powers on her poison sacs. Karma idly spun her shines through her long claws, eyes fixed unnervingly on Gladion's blank face. There was still the glitter of psychic burns over her fur, darkening the gold to nearly grey, but she made no reaction to them.

Rook thumped his blades together, glancing around. With his odd gait, he trotted toward Ash and stood guard next to his feet, digging furrows into the ground without seeming to notice it. Raichu snickered, flexing his tail as Rook made another awkward motion as he turned to watch the electric type. Gale's crest flared further at the presence of the randomly-dispersed sparks.

Gladion nodded his head, inspecting each of them for some qualification Ash had no idea of. Rhydon spun his horn when prompted, electricity crackling to the forefront, and the ground trembled as he moved to keep Gladion within his sights. Scorch barked, ears still pinned, but he simply walked past her. The Trio pokemon were given a once over as well, and Gale seemed insulted as Gladion ignored his massive beak and paid attention to his wings.

"Again, as I thought." A grin flashed over his face, dimming some of the apathy there. "Your team is going to enjoy these two weeks."

Gladion clicked his fingers together, gesturing to Rhydon. The ground type shot a concerned glance to Ash before stepping forward, tail dragging over the dirt, and stopped in the center of the first battlefield. His natural bulk put him well above Gladion but the man hardly noticed, inspecting him again before pulling off his only normal pokeball. He released its occupant next to Rhydon, eyes narrowing.

The pokemon that emerged was large and sharp, for lack of a better term. It was mainly made up of two enormous pincers, a small torso, and transparent wings moving so fast Ash could only see them as a blur. It hovered easily over the dirt, blue carapace shining in the reflected glow from the artificial lights, and a crack of electricity jumped between its two jaws.

Before Ash could finish placing it - definitely not from Indigo, he was leaning on Galar - Gladion gestured to it, still keeping his rather unnerving grin. "This is Vikavolt, a bug and electric type from Alola. She will be rhydon's opponent."

Ash frowned. Sure, she was able to fly and thus avoid most ground type attacks, but her electricity might tickle and bug moves were mostly physical, which Rhydon could shrug off easily. All and all, she would be difficult to hit but Rhydon should be able to nail her with a flamethrower, and with how fragile bug types typically were, that should weaken her enough where the match would end soon.

Gladion's grin widened.

"And that is _exactly_ what I'm talking about. We'll see what you think about her after today."

A great ball was primed and released before he could respond, releasing a more familiar presence. The massive, regal crobat took to the air immediately, purple fur gleaming and golden eyes bright, circling lazily a dozen feet up. Gale's attention snapped to it.

"Crobat for your fearow."

Gale shrieked his approval, bracing his talons against the ground and snapping out his wings. Ash darted forward and kicked for his braced talon, jerking off his balance, before carefully stepping back as Gale shrieked. The fearow didn't try and take off again, but from the fury in his eyes, he took Crobat's slow, sweeping loops as utter mocking. Vikavolt hummed.

His zoro-something was next, all gleaming black fur and bloody claws. It churred warmly at its trainer, staring around the circle of pokemon. Rook straightened at the dark aura it exuded, raising a blade in an odd, circular motion Ash took as a greeting, though he didn't move forward. The dark type bared its fangs at him, gaze piercing directly toward Wraith.

"Your ghost will learn plenty from Zoroark, though she will make it as difficult as possible." Gladion brushed an errant curl of her tail back, the hair-like extension shifting in an invisible current as she extended each of her claws to their full extent. Wraith mirrored her, fangs growing in number until they littered his mouth and inflated it past what it should be with a hiss. "Golisopod may also help when needed."

Golisopod was absolutely enormous, hulking bug type that looked like it could go hand-to… claw? with a tyranitar. It stared flatly at Rook, who didn't know what to make of it, if his low screech was anything to go by. Its three pairs of arms twitched under its cream-grey carapace, claws strangely sharp. Idly, Ash thought that _this_ should be the pokemon to go against Rhydon, based on bulk and size alone.

"For your pawniard. I doubt this will be anything less than one-sided, but it should learn some helpful tips from their battles. Your alakazam as well, when she is not busy."

Maybe it was just him, but Ash couldn't help but get the idea that Gladion was enjoying this.

The last pokemon, thankfully, didn't look like a monster. It was similar to a growlithe, though nearly triple the size, armed with a stiff, rocky ruff and bright blue eyes. It barked, voice gravely despite the friendly tone, and wagged its thick tail. Gladion patted it lightly behind its dagger-sharp ears as he spoke.

"And Lyranroc will work with your ninetales. He will let her try and attack him, and maybe she will eventually land a hit."

Scorch, apparently, did not like the arrogant words Gladion had said. She snarled, lowering into a four-point battle stance, and made a movement as if to lunge forward. Ash whistled sharply and she stopped, still growling.

He fought a flush as Surge roared with laughter behind him. Not even ten minutes into Gladion's training - training _introduction_ \- and twice he had had to call back his own pokemon from attacking outright. From Gladion's raised eyebrow, he had expected better.

Ash's shoulders tightened. He wasn't here to be the same trainer he had been in his first month - he was nearly halfway through his journey, having earned seven badges and well on his way to an eighth. The point stood: he wasn't going to let Gladion intimidate him into cracking this early. He could wrangle his team.

Surge stepped forward, landing a hand on Ash's shoulder with a grunt. Raichu squeaked, jagged tail curling around the gym leader's throat. "And I'll be handlin' you this morning, just talking. We'll head back once we're done and you can see the ass-kicking Gladion's laying down on your team."

Rhydon rumbled at that, horn spinning, but Surge just chuckled. Another jolt of electricity jumped between Vikavolt's jaws, looking less benign than before. Surge stepped forward, grabbed his shoulder, and cheerfully steered Ash out of the courtyard.

Almost immediately, he stumbled forward from the burst of wind Gale made by taking off, lunging up to match Crobat with a shriek. He became nothing more than a grey-brown blur as he tore across the sky in a blaze of fury. Even if the poison type was stronger, Ash guessed that Gale's territorial protection of _his_ skies would even it out.

The afterclap of lightning and the unsheathing of Zoroark's claws ushered him back inside.

Entering the much-better lit space of the gym was a welcome change from the grey dimness of outside. The door clanged with a certain foreboding, cutting off a rumble that trembled the ground. Training was starting full-on, apparently.

Surge near manhandled him into the original sitting room, clicking the door closed behind the slower Bulbasaur. She snarled at him, but crossed to lay by Ash's feet under the main light of the room, careful to keep one eye on each occupant. While she would normally spend her time with Wraith, she tended to avoid the team while they were training beyond watching them, and it was too dark to do much of that - especially for the eyes of grass types, which needed the light.

Some of Surge's boisterity seemed to disappear when he sat down, the couch creaking beneath his weight, even as Raichu chittered and leapt to the seat arm. He idly smoothed back an errant curl of fur, staring at Ash with a tired gaze.

Neither of them said anything for a short while, but he felt the invisible presence - or the empty hole where it was - grow stronger and stronger in the silence.

"Alola," Ash tried, and felt the word reverberate through his skull like a drum.

Surge grimaced, glancing away for a second.

"Alola was a clusterfuck, runt," he began, grimace deepening. "They've got shitty technology and are so far away no one knew what was happening. For us, it looked like one day they suddenly imploded and everything went wrong. Kanto got the call for help too late and we were the only ones they reached out to." He curled his fingers against the cushion of the couch hard enough to make the fabric creak. "Maybe because we're one of the longest standing Leagues. Maybe because we were the ones to first make contact with them. Arceus knows what the reason was - we certainly weren't the closest."

"I was still a newbie, having done the Conference a few times and having just been swept up by the ACE trainers. So I was sent down in the first wave to try and help whatever mysterious thing was going down there." Raichu squeaked as Surge glanced at him, only serving to make Ash's nerves worsen. "Supposed to be a real easy thing. Get in, figure it out, kick some ass, get out. Alola was the baby compared to the rest of us, so it would only make sense that their problem would be just as small. Shit, we barely knew anything about them- it was only a few days before I was shipped out that I learned the region was all about islands instead of just land. We were fodder, something for Kanto to throw at the problem until it went away."

"Alola wasn't any better. They underplayed everything, which I think is because they've never faced any _real_ problems before. Their government and everything was never contested unless unanimously. They don't have the ravaging powerhouses like Unova has with hydreigon. And they've got minor Legends there - four beasts or something called the Guardian Deities. Apparently, they interact pretty often, saving falling kids or stopping conflicts, though they aren't really seen." Surge snorted. "At least they know their Legends exist and haven't fucked off to nowhere."

"But one random day, everything went dark for a week straight. No moon, no sun, just big ol' empty sky. When the light came back, the Deities were gone. And panic started. See, when you're that close to your Legends, you rely on them a lot, and that's exact-fucking-ly what happened to Alola. Their precious guardians disappeared and they knew shit all what to do. So some bastard named Po rose up with this group named Team Skull, took over one town, and made it their base. Alola's communication is awful so by the time Professor Kukui figured out that his messages weren't coming back, Team Skull had built up a little army and were sweeping it over Ula'ula island. No one had any defenses, and they utterly crushed everyone in their path. Ula'ula was under Po's control easily, and the other islands had no way to know when they would get hit. It was when Akala Island started gettin' blasted that Alola reached out and Kanto sent us over."

Surge shrugged, fingers tapping over his pokeballs. "I got teamed up with Kiawe, a fire type Master over there, because I was the strongest of the new ACE trainers and electric and fire are a match made in heaven when you want sheer destruction. We used hit-and-run tactics to try and keep Team Skull from advancin'. Not a standstill, because we kept getting pushed back, but we'd stopped the bastard Po for a short while and gave the other islands a breather. But even with my whole troop, we were losing pokemon left and right and Team Skull had an entire town to just keep throwing at us."

"Kiawe was ready to pull back, retreat to the closest town to try and build up a defense, but that's when Gladion showed up." Raichu squeaked at the mention of the name, Surge flicking him across the ears without looking. "He was a nobody then, some sort of exiled heir to the Aether Paradise that had just started up, but his Kumu was one of the strongest pokemon I've ever seen. He single-handedly held a point long enough for us to bust in and start throwing shit, and we scared Team Skull back to a corner of the island. It was a nice little victory, something we hadn't had yet."

"We were all thinking about what we could do next but Team Skull didn't stop. A chunk split off and was heading to Poni Island to try and corner us in. Hypno barely managed to teleport me, Kiawe, and Gladion over, and we were all ready to-" he paused. "Well, to make our final stand to hold them off as long as we could." His voice grew softer and softer through the whole thing. "And then everything just… changed."

He paused, tilting his gaze back as if searching for words. "There's no way to describe it, runt." Surge shook his head. "All was right and stuff, but then somethin' just _happened_ , and I couldn't understand how I hadn't noticed how everything was so empty before. The world was all warm, yellow and gold, and nothing was dark anymore."

"The ocean rose and drowned the travelin' Team Skull, and the ones still on land were forcibly teleported to clumps of three or four randomly. They're good in numbers but they're shitty on their own, and the Alola League was able to beat them back. Whatever had caused the Deities to disappear apparently left, and with their help, we were able to win it all over. Po's rotting in some volcano prison with no damn intentions of parole, and most of Team Skull surrendered the second their leader was down. Everything got cleaned up, and I got sent back to Kanto." He rushed through the last few words as if being chased, shoulders stiff.

Ash opened his mouth to ask something but Surge leveled him with such a glare he shrank back to the couch cushions.

"But back in Kanto, the Indigo League was… torn. Yeah, sure, hundreds of ACE trainers had gone there to fight and not all of them had come back, but mass internal wars were a big deal. The last one was Kalos' Great War, and nearly every region fell apart because of that. This one wasn't nearly to scale and it was actually won, so there's that, but mass fucking hysteria was something to be seriously concerned over." Surge scratched at his stubble like he wanted to rip it off.

"So they kept quiet. Covered it up, removed my rank as lieutenant, and deleted all files on the whole thing. I was given some prizes from Kukui and I'm still decently close to Kiawe, but the whole thing was swept under the rug." He let out a breath before closing his eyes, the weight on his shoulders melting away in some bizarre version of furious mediation.

After a heartbeat, Surge revealed tired, tired eyes, a wry grimace on his face. "But no other regions had to deal with it. That kind of inspiration would have kickstarted Team Rocket into the fucking sky, and that war was right about the point of their peak. If all of this had gotten out, there's no telling what could have happened."

Ash frowned, feeling himself bristle at the words. "So they covered up everything you did? Everything you fought for?"

Surge jerked up a hand, cutting him off. "Don't start. I'm made my peace, runt." He sighed, swiping a hand through his hair. "I'm not happy 'bout what happened. It was shitty, still is, but once I stopped bein' pissed I can understand why they did it."

"You see where Team Rocket is now? That center in Vermillion, the mess with Gideon, and now Goodshow in the hoops when he's been nothing but squeaky clean for the past two decades? We're barely dealing with it now. If what Team Skull did came out, they'd triple what they're doing now. Or if everything came out right when it all happened, maybe we'd have been dealing with this shit then, and a lot more people would be dead."

Ash nodded quietly. In some part of his mind, he could understand it as well, but it was equally warring with the fury at having an entire war hidden from the public. What would the League do? Keep it hidden up forever?

They would, probably. And then the Team of Kanto and other regions wouldn't hear how nearly successful an uprising was, and they would stay crushed. He grimaced, tugging at his hair as if it held the answers.

Surge snorted at his dilemma, scratching behind Raichu's ears. He seemed calmer now, but there was an edge sharper than anything Ash had ever seen before. "That was me after it all." He chuckled, low in his throat. "But try as they might, I've been able to use lieutenant for all these years without them being able to stop me, and that electric golem Kukui gave me is still a cornerstone of my team. The situation wasn't - isn't - ideal, but the world ain't. You've just gotta find some niche to punch something and move on." He shrugged his massive shoulders, prompting Raichu to jump back on them.

Bulbasaur growled quietly to herself, and Ash leaned forward to pet her lightly on the top of her head. She didn't lean away from the touch, which was a win, her scarlet gaze fixed on the ground in deep thought.

Ash stayed silent for a moment, absorbing everything. The story had none of the bravery and courage and reward spoken of in war history books. Alola was still a new region to join the Council of Leagues, but everything he had heard about it was friendly, warm. His hair-tugging increased until he could feel his skin flex beneath the pulls.

Surge stared at him, expression carefully dull. "Anything else you want to know?"

Ash forced a laugh. "I think you covered it pretty well." Surge snorted at that, and Ash ran through his thoughts once more. Another tremble raced through his mind as if an electric volt, forcing him to wince again. Wraith howled in retaliation. "Why couldn't I remember anything?"

Surge stiffened at that, a ticked frown on his face. "That'd be the League, looking out for their influence." A few furious sparks raced over Raichu's fur.

"Officer Jenny - the chief in Vermillion - knows what happened. She was in the clean-up crew, never faced anything there, but she got the story. So the League gave her a real pretty beheeyem that's trained in manipulating memories. She must've seen me talking to you after the raid and overheard. That's my fault. So she sent Beheeyem in and he covered up your memories. Probably would've worked too, if you didn't go out and get a shit load of Trio pokemon without ever revisiting Vermillion to let him remake it. The block was probably on a hairline fracture until something managed to bring it up again."

Ash scratched at the back of his neck as if that could unearth the touch of the psychic. The idea of having a random pokemon - even one trained by the League - poking around his mind with the intent of _hiding_ something was frightening. Worrying.

Rook's river bubbled up, and Ash raced to change the subject. He didn't want to think about the _Hypno fought down in Alola so she can face ghosts and Kiawe is annoying and Kukui gives good rewards_ buzz hidden behind his eyes.

"What do you think about Legends?" It had been impossible to ignore his undertones during the speech.

Surge shrugged. "Ours exist, you won't ever find me denying that. They're powerful enough to crush me with a single look, I won't fight that either. But ours stopped interfering so much when we developed a strong enough League to support ourselves. Still do all my traditions and holidays, but the issue with never seeing our own Legends in a few hundred years is that they start to fade a bit." He leaned back, a blithe chuckle escaping his lips. "That's something good about what happened in Alola, I guess. I don't look it, but I'm a strong believer in theirs. Whatever happened to chase Team Skull back wasn't a mortal influence."

"Oh."

The silence raced on again, which Surge seemed content to sit in, and it was only when Bulbasaur bumped his leg that Ash moved. Grimacing, he raised his head to look at the giant. "Yeah. I just- this is a lot to take in."

"Damn right it is," Surge hummed. "Took me plenty long and I was in it. Don't get too wrapped up. What's in the past is in the past. Gladion's here, he scampered from Alola as soon as the war was over, and Lance has been mentioning Kiawe's name pretty recently in meetings, but Alola's back to a paradise. Team Skull still exists, but it's comparing a rattata to a dragonite. Everyone on Alola hates 'em and so the most they can do is annoy before they're inevitably carted to prison. Whatever remains is shapin' up their act. Kukui's been working with Po's son, Guzma, to take the reins of the old group and make 'em into something worthwhile. No one wants to risk anything again."

Ash nodded again, glancing away for a second. Team Skull was a strange comparison to Team Rocket, at least partially. Strong in numbers, tightly attached, striving for control. Gideon had taken all he had to capture. Giovanni was still hunting on the members of Team Rocket in the League itself, proving that the group was more manipulative and vicious than the straight-forward javelin of Team Skull, but they were both dangerous.

"Why are you telling me this?" There was a moment of pause before Ash backpedaled, hands flying up. "Not that I'm not grateful, I mean, it's just that Gladion would also know-"

"Runt."

Ash shut up.

Surge leaned back, examining the ceiling tiles in a manner rather unconvincingly before answering. "See, for me, it was just a war. I didn't know this land. I didn't know these people. I was just shipped there one day and I started fighting."

"But for Gladion… that's his home. He's never talked about why he was exiled from Aether Paradise and that place closed down early in the war, so I guess we'll never know, but the kid's got connections to Alola. That's where he lived, grew up, was born. Leaves a mark, even though he hasn't been there for years. This story ain't one he's ever going to be comfortable telling."

Ash nodded, eyes flicking down again to stare at Bulbasaur, whose full attention was snagged on Surge. He hadn't considered that really, though he knew he should have. There must have been a reason Gladion was here instead of there, but he rather felt he was probably the last person to ask.

Surge grunted after a minute, making a move to stand. Raichu wrapped his tail tighter around his throat for stability as he stood, squeaking once with a few random sparks jumping from his red electricity sacs. "You can have a moment," he offered, voice rumbling. "Gladion'll still be working out his regime so just breath for a second and then head back."

As he headed toward the door, a final question sprung to the forefront of his mind.

"You said two years," Ash tried, words failing him amazingly. "But what you described… that only sounds like months."

Surge paused right before the exit, still turned away so Ash couldn't see his face. There was a stutter to his shoulders that hadn't been there before, even during the thick of the story. He could hear an exhalation.

"There was a lot of fighting, kid," he said at last, quietly. "And not all of it turned out pretty. I'll see you outside."

And with that, he was gone, shutting the door gently behind him.

It was fifteen minutes until he felt he was alright enough to leave the room.

Ash glared at the jitter in his hands until it went away, leaving him to slide the door open and step into the cooler hall. The air helped clear his thoughts somewhat, even though they still raced.

Surge was… somewhere between an acquaintance and a friend - it was difficult to tell with the man's permanent gruff attitude - and knowing what he had gone through and lost was hard to describe. The most he had known about wars were the dolled-up examples in textbooks, which was far different than the story coming from a fighter there.

Thankfully though, hearing the story had chased away the majority of the buzz behind his eyes. Karma's colors had successfully covered the blank splotch and Wraith's defenses were back to full strength, Rook's river running strong. It was a comforting contrast.

Ash resolved to ignore Alola for now. He didn't really have time to get caught up in the past, as Surge had said. There was little chance he could ignore it, but he didn't want to get caught.

He retraced his steps, trying to remember which way Surge had manhandled him. Bulbasaur snarled when he tried to go the wrong way, eventually leading the way and leaving him to trail behind with a sheepish grin. She marched through the door, bulb twitching and gleaming a pale green as the early morning light slipped over her. Ash let the searching fingers of sunlight twine over his arms, enjoying the warmth opposed to the cold of everywhere. A blistering shriek tore over the battleground.

Ash blinked, looked up, and flinched just in time to dodge a whistling burst of wind.

Gale screeched, barely catching himself before he could slam into the ground with the combined force of aerial ace and steel wing. He flapped clumsily back up, crest flared, and shrieked.

Crobat flew overhead, purple fur catching in its own wind, and managed to look remarkably smug even from a distance of forty feet up. It hadn't attacked Gale outright, instead throwing a current of wind just strong enough to throw off Gale's balance and divert his charge. Gale hurtled himself back at the poison type but Crobat spun itself and dropped, releasing twin air cutters to slam into Gale's talons. His charge went wide again.

Ash stopped, staring at the furious battle. Gale was in a rage, throwing everything at his opponent, but Crobat was barely retaliating. It lived in slow circles of forty feet up, lazily keeping itself within the boundaries of the battleground, but the only effort it put in was releasing weak, specialized attacks designed to throw Gale off instead of just damage him. It seemed to have used barely any energy, still the same level of power as it had been at the start, while Gale was definitely moving slower than he normally did. The fearow screamed overhead, wings seeming to slice through the air, but he didn't try for another frontal assault - instead, he soared higher, reaching nearly sixty, before blasting the air with heat wave.

Crobat spun, wings glowing, and used a centralized tailwind. The burst of energy tore a hole directly through the heat wave, clearing a path for Crobat to soar through. Gale tucked his wings and barrel-rolled away from the tailwind, still shrieking, his crest singing from his own heat wave. Crobat returned to its circles.

Ash whistled lowly. Gale had rarely been this pissed since Gary's Pidgeotto, and Crobat was only making it worse with every passing second. By not engaging him - and not letting him engage either - Gale's fury was spiking rapidly, and Ash was curious how long it would take for him to snap entirely.

Whatever Gladion wanted to achieve, he was certainly choosing a difficult path to get there.

He padded forward, watching Bulbasaur tuck herself in the corner with a clutter of Kalosian roses. Gladion stood in the middle of the field, eyes seeming to glow, stance like he was commanding an army.

It looked like it.

Rarely has his training ever gotten this chaotic. Ash barely knew where to look but Gladion handled it effortlessly, whistling commands or snapping his fingers. His pokemon responded immediately - Ash's struggled to keep up.

Rhydon stumbled, tail slamming into the ground to keep his balance. Vikavolt buzzed, soaring higher into the air as Rhydon snapped out a bulky fist, missing her entirely. He roared, arm still extended, but he had to struggle for a few seconds to properly pull it back. His eyes were furious.

His entire body glittered with minute burns, but it wasn't covered - instead of more black than grey, Ash found he could only see the electrical burns in certain places. The underside of his jaw, shoulders, base of his tail, every joint - and with every movement he made, it became painfully clear that the burns had reduced his movement to nearly zero. Every time he tried to move, his limbs would move slowly, and pulling them back was practically impossible. Vikavolt had miles to dodge his hits and could retaliate easily, reducing Rhydon immobile. A mountain of armor and force, but that was useless if he couldn't move.

Vikavolt hummed, jaws clicking, as she buzzed around his frenzied blows. A flamethrower split the air but she flew upward, looping around an errant flame and dodging easily enough. Rhydon spun at the speed of a slowpoke and bellowed.

Both him and Ash had underestimated her. The battle was one-sided.

The others weren't doing much better, either. Ash moved closer, careful to stay on the perimeter, and stared in not-well-hidden awe at the fights going on.

Scorch yelped in pain as sand peppered her eyes, flamethrower going wide. Lycanroc blurred around her, shaking his mane to release a barrage of pointed stones, another sand attack swirling over his back in preparation. The rocks didn't attack, falling to the ground in supposed meekness, and Lycanroc barely seemed to notice their release. Scorch yowled and released a burst of fire from her release tail, the flames curving around to obliterate the dirt in front of her eyes. As soon as she was able to see, she spun around to face Lycanroc, eyes burning blue with extrasensory even as her tails glowed with fire-

The stones on the ground sprung up and tore into her sides. Scorch fell, thrashing, and Lycanroc blurred away again. Stealth rock.

He hadn't actually attacked her, beyond the stealth rock, only using sand attack and rock throw to divert her attacks. It was similar yet different to Crobat - while he was the pressing force, the one to continuously engage, he wasn't doing any real damage. She had plenty of opportunities to attack. Judging by her frustration and Lycanroc's smooth coat, she hadn't succeeded yet.

Wraith howled his fury as his hand disintegrated, destroyed by Zoroark's mere presence as he tried for an attack. She churred, eyes gleaming, and stood stoically as Wraith dove for her. His ectoplasmic skin thinned and released a burst of poison, but she coughed out a wave of dark energy and exploded it before it ever reached her. Wraith went incorporeal, reappearing only a heartbeat later over her with his claws crackling with unearthly blue flames, but she snapped her fangs up and popped his form before he could get anywhere close. An unearthly wail echoed out.

Golisopod grunted, glancing down at its side with an expression of polite indifference. Rook screeched, glowing viscerally with night slash, and threw himself forward. His blades burned against the air and embedded into Golisopod's carapace. The bug type swatted him with a single claw as Rook was still struggling to dig deeper, yanking him out and throwing him across the empty battlefield. Rook hit the ground with a thud, still screeching.

Ash stood there, staring at the carnage. It was nicely organized - Scorch and Rook shared a field, Wraith and Rhydon on the other, and Gale took up the air - but with the sheer amount of attacks being thrown around, it took all he had to get his eyes to properly follow the madness. He could see a mr. mime in the corner, hands flashing constantly as it threw up shields to protect the uncaring Gladion. It looked like one from Sabrina's gym, though he couldn't tell for sure.

He didn't know how long he stood there, blinded by pops of fire and deafened by ghostly shrieks, before electricity crackled against his arm. Ash hissed, looking down - red stood out against his elbow, slightly shiny. Rubbing it more out of insult than any sort of pain, he glanced around and saw Surge waving him over, Raichu squeaking smugly by his side. Ash rolled his eyes but trotted over, quietly grateful from the endless chaos.

It looked like there would be no more talking of Alola, which he both appreciated and disliked. Surge had lost the cracks in his bravado, back to smug grins and roared laughter. He was wearing shades, the dark glasses covering his eyes, but the expression on his face looked the same as it always did.

"Training seems to be going well," he offered, jogging the last few steps. Surge barked with laughter.

"This is just the first day." Surge's grin exposed too many teeth to be entirely friendly. "He's starting out by beatin' some humility into your team's head, using perfect counters to crush them in a way they haven't faced before. Tonight, they're just going to pass out, but tomorrow they'll be so damn pissed they'll have to start getting creative to land a hit. 'Least, that's what he's guessing. And by using his counters, he's showing them ways around it. Your rhydon for example - he's big, he's strong, and he hits hard. If nothing gives him a chance to do that, he's a sitting psyduck. Vikavolt's fast, agile, and annoying - she'll whittle him down, hitting all his joints and weak points until he can't move, then she would blast him with her one power move. With that strategy, I've seen a jolteon take down a steelix." He shook his head, a chuckle building in his throat. "That was something to see."

Ash didn't quite know how to respond but a laugh came and so he let it, watching his pokemon get beat into the ground.

He waited for a moment, but there was no surge of frustration. Rhydon let out a pained roar as electricity crackled on the underside of his jaw, immediately sweeping up toward his horn but not before eroding another layer of his protective plating away from its intensity. Ash winced in sympathy.

He wasn't angry. It took him a moment to realize it, waiting but feeling no sting of irritation or fury at watching his best friends in the world get destroyed, and it was a moment longer before he figured it out.

His pokemon weren't getting obliterated.

Lycanroc wasn't peppering Scorch with stone edges and rock blasts, neither was Vikavolt against Gale and filling the skies with lightning. They were being stopped from using their own attacks but they weren't being crushed in response. It was learning, not just humility lessons - there was something far less infuriating about watching Wraith get popped by his own foolish charges than Zoroark blasting him with dark pulses.

Surge grinned, somehow watching both Ash and his team closely. "Your team'll hate and love you for this- oh, that's gotta hurt."

Gale pried himself up from the ground, talons safely having taken the brunt for him, but there was still an odd tilt to his left wing. Still, he shrieked at Crobat, who chittered back and pulled into a short loop to fly closer to the ground. That must have infuriated the fearow because he immediately took off, harnessing agility for an extra burst of speed. Crobat stopped flapping and dropped, leaving Gale to screech overhead.

"Where's Karma?" Ash asked, eyes flicking back to Wraith's sluggish reforming. The ghost was a good fourth smaller than normal.

Surge shrugged, shades slipping half an inch down his nose. "Sabrina took her right this morning. Apparently, the extra power, even if untrained, helps her search out and break down Silph Co's defenses, and she should learn some critical multitasking from it. Sabrina might give her back eventually, but just expect her to stay workin' there."

Ash nodded, wincing as Scorch was hit by another centralized stealth rock. Despite all her prowess with extrasensory, she had an awful time remembering where inanimate objects where she had to pay attention to. "What do I do? I've got some ideas for Wraith-"

Surge grunted, holding up a hand. "Wouldn't suggest it. Gladion's prickly at the best of times and he just needs to keep working. I'll have to throw something at him to get him to remember to eat." Another sharp-toothed grin crossed his face. "In the meantime, you'll be watchin' the fights to see how you've failed."

Ash bristled, prompting Surge to laugh again.

"Just look around, see the little tricks Gladion's using, and then spend tonight and the morn talking through what you'll do to combat that. Unless, of course, you want them to keep getting blasted, which is damn entertaining."

He let his shoulders drop and glanced away for a moment, staring as Rhydon used rock polish in a furious attempt to get rid of the blackened scorching over his armor.

Well, he had never been one to take a challenge lying down. Ash pulled his pokedex from his belt, flicking open to a new notes page, and watched.

Surge was helpful, to a point. He lounged back and provided unwanted - if hilarious - commentary on the whole thing, but he was able to read Gladion far better than Ash ever could and he pointed out strategies Gladion was trying to unlock in his pokemon that Ash wouldn't have gotten.

One note page was filled, then another. He eventually separated everything up into a document for each pokemon, using the rather clunky keypad as fast as he could. In terms of innovation, the pokedex was defining many of the new resources about training coming of. But technology-wise, the pokedex used pieces that had already been old when it came out. Touchscreen was widely used now and the pokedex didn't have that, still on buttons, and overall the thing just worked slower than other inventions made at the same time. Professor Oak's invention was paving the way for a whole new line of inventions in the same vein, but Ash felt a bit like he was trying to cram a textbook into a single sheet of paper when he used it.

He snacked idly on some protein bars as Surge chucked a sandwich across the entire battleground with ease, neatly going over the battles, and nearly smacked Gladion upside the head before the man managed to sidestep it. The glare he returned was legendary but he did eat the food.

Night crawled onward, spreading tendrils of shadows over the battleground until Ash was debating pulling out his flashlight when Gladion whistled. His pokemon immediately stopped their battles at the shrill sound, dodging any last furious attacks. Ash's nearly passed out the second everything was over, Wraith blipping out of existence and Gale thundering down in a barely-controlled dive to land. Surge laughed uproariously at the sight, pounding Ash's back hard enough he stumbled forward a few steps.

Gladion stretched on the battlefield, barely looking out of place, and started heading back over. Zoroark fell neatly beside him, carefully sheathing each of her claws.

"They'll be nicely slathered in some potions and then given back to you - there aren't many _real_ injuries, just exhaustion. We'll give 'em some chesto berries revives for an energy boost in the morn. Don't bother them tonight, they'll need the sleep." Surge's grin grew wider, almost matching Gladion's eerie one. "And today's only the first of many."

Ash decided, at that moment, he would really, really not want to be trained by Gladion if he was a pokemon.

He recalled his team immediately, though leaving Karma out. There'd be time to talk that night but for now, he just needed them to start healing so they wouldn't be in awful shape the next day. The good thing, at least, about Gladion's training style was that Rook, Rhydon, and Wraith weren't getting destroyed, and that allowed them to still heal from their battle with Sabrina. If Ash was totally honest, he wanted another week to let them do nothing but lounge around in recovery, but exhaustion only slowed healing instead of stopping it.

It wasn't perfect, but this was training he couldn't pass up.

He padded back to the healing room, rolling the pokeballs over the counter until Hypno grabbed them and teleported out without so much as a glance in his direction. Karma still hadn't returned, but he wasn't worried about her safety. She'd come back when she was done.

His room seemed cold, and Bulbasaur snarled at the temperature. He debated opening the window before deciding to keep it closed; Scorch would be back soon, and the cold spell meant nothing much would be heated anyway. In the meantime, he set up a small nest of blankets for Bulbasaur on the windowsill, which she curled upon, and prepared for his team's arrival.

Berries, half of the entirety of his stores, were arranged in piles of favourites. He idly nudged one or two of Scorch's cheris into Gale's noticeably tiny pile - he still didn't really care for berries, which was strange - and slipped a yache into Karma's as a test run.

He tried to set up the bed in the best way he could - a thin strip down one side for him, the majority else taken up by Scorch's customary fireproof sheets and a clean spot around the headboard for Gale. Rhydon's place next to the bed was empty, and he guessed Karma might want the corner opposite the desk. Wraith preferred under the bed when he slept corporeal - which Ash was kind of doubting he'd do tonight - and so he slipped his extra supplies under the desk instead.

It was exactly at the time that Ash was planning on heading down to the healing room to see what was happening, head still bursting with _Alola_ no matter how much he tried to chase it away, when Hypno teleported inside his room, tired eyes glancing around the room. It offered him five pokeballs with its normal blank expression. The second he was distracted with managing his team, Hypno snatched up one colbur berry and teleported out, ignoring his yelp.

Shaking his head, Ash crammed himself in one corner as best he could to make space and released his team.

Rhydon rumbled, visibly sagging despite his bright armor. It was sleeker than before, mainly because of the number of times he had used rock polish, and he looked absolutely miserable. Gale hopped over to the available headboard and almost immediately tucked his head behind his wing, closely followed by Scorch collapsing on the bed. Wraith never went corporeal but Ash could feel his customary trickle of wind as he dove beneath the bed, darkening the shadows by his mere presence. Rook, at least, ambled toward the berries and tore into his pure-chople pile, red juice sliding down the length of his blades.

Ash sighed before jumping in to help.

With a bit of effort, he managed to walk Rhydon over to lay down next to the bed. He put his pile of berries directly in front of his mouth so he had to do the bare minimum of effort to eat them, which the ground type rumbled happily at before taking nearly a minute to reopen his eyes after blinking. Gale didn't move, no matter what he tried, so he set aside his berries for now. Sometime during then, Wraith's had disappeared, so he let the ghost be beyond sticking his head under the bed and whispering congratulations to the empty space.

Scorch yipped tiredly at him when he approaching, barely releasing a few degree's worth of heat, but after she ate a few spicy berries she did perk up. Her tails twitched as she watched him fly around the room, helping everyone.

Karma teleported in soon enough, ears flat against her skull and only a few inches off the ground. She didn't seem nearly as tired as the others, though she was quiet. Her shock at seeing the others' state was probably only amusing to Ash, but he took it anyway. She gathered her berries quickly and drifted off to a corner, shines flowing in their inactive form around her neck.

Rook needed the least help - steel types were naturally strong in order to be able to move their own armor, and he only really performed the same frontal charge over and over today. Ash guessed he was going to have to sit down with the pawniard to actually get him to try something new, come up with a new strategy; without a bisharp - or "bisharp", in Ash's case - directing him, he seemed to revert completely back to his methods of the wild.

He took a moment to admire his handiwork and found it rather heartwarming. Rhydon's dorsal spines rose with every breath, trembling the room on its foundations, as he watched his pack carefully. Gale was a huddled mass of grey-red feathers with no intentions of moving; Scorch a curled up pile of golden fur. Rook laid beneath the window in that awkward, stiff way he did with his thick armor, though it never seemed to bother him, and Karma floated quietly in the corner.

This was only day one, he supposed, grabbing his pokedex and shuffling to the desk in the corner. If they wanted a chance to beat tomorrow, he'd be right there with the strategies they needed. They had all suffered by not having him there to direct them as well as no time to prepare - and Gladion's pokemon had done their absolute best to rile them all up to the point where they couldn't think straight. Tomorrow would be different.

For Rhydon, he'd need something to slow down Vikavolt to the point where he could hit her. Smack down was the first thought to come to his mind, but then there was the issue of how easy that was to dodge for a small, speedy pokemon like the bug type, so maybe mixed in with rock blast for his combo of widespread? But then-

Ash caught himself the first time he nearly faceplanted against the desk, but not the second.

Grimacing, he rubbed at the already-forming bruise on his forehead and glanced at his pokedex clock. He immediately winced - nearly three am, the bright numbers annoyingly cheerful against the black of his room. Ash glanced around at his team, finding every single one of them passed out, and groaned as quietly as he could.

At least, when he set a bad example, no one was awake to see it.

Shutting off his pokedex and plugging it into the outlet for a charge, he stood and tried to shake free the stiffness that had built up over his _five hours_ in the desk chair. His limbs popped and cracked in a manner most unpleasant but he decided that was good enough, changing quickly and ignoring the concept of another shower. Ash padded toward the bed, a frown crossing his face - Scorch had managed to sprawl out over seventy-five percent of the thing, tails fully spread and lazy plumes of heat escaping from her ears. He stared at her for a good minute, snapping his fingers quietly, but she barely seemed to breathe, let alone stir. Getting an arm under her stomach, he managed to shove her into some semblance of sharing and clambered into the bed as well, tucking himself up next to her ambient heat and immediately passing out.

xXx

He pumped his fist against the air, cheering as Rhydon managed to rip up enough of a widespread to completely cover his form. Vikavolt buzzed furiously and flew up, but even Ash could see sand powder over her wings and drop her a few feet. She recovered almost instantly and flew above the rest of the blast, but that was progress. Progress! Rhydon bellowed proudly at his first successful hit.

Surge grunted and smacked his fist out of the air, Raichu chittering smugly on the bench next to them both. "That ain't the stance, runt."

Ash obligingly got back into the position Surge had told him to be in, feet perpendicular with his left pointing forward and ahead of the other. His fists fell into positions by his side, thumb on the outside instead of the inside - Surge had nearly popped a blood vessel when he saw Ash's first attempt at a fist - and he angled one in front of him. It was an awkward position, but he supposed it'd be useful when he eventually caught a fighting type. It was considered tradition to train alongside fighters, both to help them develop as well as binding their loyalty. While most other pokemon cared about how strong and undefeated a trainer made them, fighting types needed someone who worked with them, even though they had to stick with learning regular punches compared to blistering focus blasts. The act of training alongside pokemon was one well known for fighting type trainers. He idly wondered whether Leaf did - she must have, to stick with that type.

Surge made a slow, exaggerated punch with his right arm, and Ash mirrored him. It felt odd, pulling his shoulders forward to match his invisible target head-on instead of the twisted position he had been in earlier. Surge jabbed his right out, Ash struggling to follow, but he fell into a comfortable pattern of repeating those two punches.

Surge seemed to see the exact moment it got easy for Ash, because he immediately asked him a question. "What's Lycanroc's advantage over your ninetales?"

Ash perked up, sliding into another punch. "Everything she does." Surge raised an eyebrow, and he didn't need any more prompting to jump in.

"See, that's the thing about Scorch. She's got all these strategies - distraction, whittling down, ranged and physical attacks - that she can take down most pokemon. Bulky tankers she chips away at with fire spin and distance barrages, speedsters she traps and distracts with her fire clones - or fire bombs for physical fighters - and aggressive rangers she creates fire armor and forces them to get close by dodging. But she can't face well against something that does everything she does. Lycanroc - he's fast, has ranged and physical moves, and excels in distraction and area-control moves, same as her. She's not used to having to find counters to those kinds of moves so that's why she's struggling."

"Arm down."

"Oh yeah, sure- so she can use a distraction technique, let's say light show. But at that same time, Lycanroc uses stealth rock, and once both of their moves end, they're back in a stalemate, neither having had the time to attack. And then she tries for a barrage of embers in order to get a couple will-o-wisps out for a burn hex, but Lycanroc doesn't use his normal rock blast destruction technique and just quick attacks out of the way. Then she has to quick charge - sorry, flame charge and quick attack - in order to block him, and then they're circling again. Another stalemate. Then he goes in with a sand attack prepped and she gets thrown across the field because she's normally only faced straight-forward pokemon. Trainers, mainly, when they see a ninetales, think _smart, weaker fire, non-physical_ , and then they throw out a counter for that - mainly fighting types, fliers, or anything water. But lycanroc wouldn't be on that list, mainly because they're one of the most fragile rock types. Their armor is only on their ruff, and Alola's given them thick fur that burns easily. And the majority of his rock moves are all distance, which Scorch can dodge easily. But it's because she's so rarely had to face a pokemon like him that she's failing." He finished his thought process with another left jab, feeling rather proud of his ideas.

Surge grunted, but there was a grin on his face. "Not bad. What're you going to do to change that?"

"Toxic cloak," Ash said decisively. "The main problem is that his moves match hers: extrasensory for odor sleuth, lightshow for sand attack, ember for rock throw, flamethrower for rock slide, heat wave for stomping tantrum, and so on. But there's one glaring issue- he doesn't have the Trio abilities she does. So if I give her time to charge up a ghostly assault, or even the bare beginnings of her zen headbutt, then she's got a much better chance. And toxic cloak is the way to do it - his odor sleuth won't work with the stench of toxic, so she should have plenty of time." He frowned. "Solar beam might also work, but I don't want to drop a new move on her in the middle of all of this training."

Surge laughed, jerking Ash out of his stance again. "I don't suppose you've got thoughts on everyone else too?"

Ash resisted the urge to grab for his nice, perfect notes in his pokedex and nodded. "Who's next?"

xXx

A week and a half later, Ash hadn't ever found himself wishing to be on the road more.

He dragged himself out of bed, now having to rely entirely on the chirping tone of his pokedex instead of Scorch or Rhydon, exhausted as they were. Slapping _off_ with one hand, he clambered into the shower and contemplated never leaving.

Everything hurt. And that was just him - he wasn't even the one being trained under Gladion, for Arceus' sake! But even just basic punches and kicks from Surge, as well as getting slammed into the ground every single time they had a mock spar, had made him ache in ways he hadn't thought possible.

His team wasn't doing any better. Karma was taking it the worst - she had only worked with Sabrina for three days before getting dropped straight into Gladion's training, not having the _welcoming_ period the others did. Golisopod was simply there as a weight for her to lift while still fighting off Rook, which seemed easy at first.

It wasn't. Golisopod was a bug type, which meant the natural chaos of his mind and the protection of an exoskeleton versus a skeleton messed with every single one of her natural senses until she was putting four times the effort she did on any other pokemon just to get a solid hold on him. And then there was the fact he weighed around five hundred pounds, which, for her, was heavier than anything she had ever lifted. So far, she had managed to stare angrily at the air, eyes glowing like suns, as Golisopod drifted up and down a few inches, seemingly unaffected.

Gladion had also put her in a few mock battles against Golisopod, whenever Rook was cheerfully passed out after one too hard a hit. He would fill the air with a weakened bug buzz, staining everything green, and then throw up enough dust to confuse her physical senses. It often came down to Karma floating there, searching furiously for a behemoth large enough he should have stuck out like a spotlight as bug energy jolted her mind and concentration.

Her weakness was her inability to control a battle. She had power in spades and enough sheer willpower to control it, but her opponent could easily use a Trio attack and become all but invisible to her. She needed to learn to sense others, change the battlefield with curls of her massive power, and force them to face her.

Which Golisopod was excellent at avoiding.

He turned off the water with a sigh and stayed in the steam for a moment longer, enjoying the warmth, before getting out and changing. His time on the road had prepared him for chaotic mornings, at least.

Surge ignored knocking altogether and merely busted in, forcing the pokemon that had only just started to stir into full wakefulness. Ash appeared from the bathroom, hiding his yawn in the palm of his hand.

"Enjoying sleeping in, runt?" Surge said, grinning wildly. From behind him, Ash could see Scorch practically slither off the bed in an attempt to conserve energy.

He was rather proud of the glare he leveled at Surge, though the bags under his eyes probably ruined it. "Are you kidding? I spent two minutes last night trying to get toothpaste out of an empty tube because I was seeing double, and I had to release Rhydon nearly four times to get him into his proper sleeping position because he could barely move. Gladion grilled them harder yesterday than any before."

"And that's because you've got today off."

Ash blinked.

The day _off_? What had they done wrong? His team was exhausted, sure, but they always were. There must be something else.

Surge watched him stutter stop for nearly a minute, grin steadily widening, before he started talking again. "Today and tomorrow are your days to fancify everything, come up with some plans, before Gladion drops his test on you. I'll let him explain it to you, but I'm _certain_ you'll enjoy the damn thing."

Days off for planning, and then a test. He nodded absentmindedly, thoughts already racing - this time with Gladion, having to constantly watch six battles all at once and come up with strategies for each of them, had seriously trained his own ability to see weaknesses and flaws in his own pokemon, and he was going to use that to give his team the edge they needed to pass this test. Test. Something like a gym battle?

"Back to the gym challenge floor in five," Surge grunted, sweeping from the room. The door clicked closed behind him, swinging shut sharply as if possessed. Ash nodded again at the empty space.

"Two days. Alright." He turned back to his team, who stared blearily at him through various states of wakefulness. "Today we'll plan, and tomorrow we'll prep. Okay?"

Rhydon rumbled, shifting his head against the ground in a mockery of a nod. Ash debated quickly whether to take any of them with him but decided against it - even Wraith, normally his most boundless pokemon, had only gone corporeal with one bloody eye peering out from the shadows. Bulbasaur stirred with a snarl from her windowsill, padding down the chair backing he had set up for her to easily get to the window. He winced at the indents her claws had left embedded into the drywall but she hardly seemed to notice, walking up to Wraith. He blinked - winked? - his single eye at her, hissing from a mouth Ash couldn't see, and disappeared back into the shadows. She growled at the empty space but went back to Ash.

She was probably the only one who had enjoyed this past week and a half - except for Surge, the sadist. The majority of her time was spent exploring the Saffron City Gym's exotic flowers, mainly from Hoenn, but Ash had caught her watching the training more often than not.

He had seen her raking at the air in an almost mockery of Wraith's fighting style, dull claws gleaming, infrequently but still happening. Ash didn't want to hold out hope that she'd eventually grow to like battling, but she didn't seem to hate it anymore. Her sleep powder had certainly grown immensely stronger.

Ash walked out of the room with her by his side, moving past the healing room and heading right. Bulbasaur seemed pleased she didn't have to lead him by the nose any longer, padding alongside him with her spots reflecting the dull light of the hall. Ash heard the sound of voices - Surge's deep rumble - and moved faster.

The gym challenge room appeared to have been through some form of Distortion, enormous furrows carved through the dirt and marks that looked almost like a sandslash's claws marring the normal dirt. Sabrina's hair was frazzled, but even as Ash entered, she smoothed it with a curl of psychic energy. Her eyes glowed with frustration, face impassive as always.

Gladion turned as Ash entered, lips quirking as he watched Bulbasaur sniff curiously at the battlefield. "Lady Sabrina received an early battle."

Ash nodded, stopping to complete the sort of square the other three were making. Surge grinned at him sharply, no Raichu present but a jolteon curled in the corner of the room, sparking softly in its sleep. He could feel the buzz from Sabrina's Alakazam in the back of his mind, not present nor in battle but powerful enough it was a constant thing. Resting, maybe.

Gladion cleared his throat, drawing Ash's attention back. "Surge told you about my test?"

"Of it," he offered.

The man's eyes flashed, pleased. "Good. On your journey, you have won seven gym badges, correct?" He didn't wait for a response. "Then you are used to a simple battle. In Alola, we don't have your methods for our circuit, instead having a challenge that tests both the trainers and their pokemon. It holds much more difficulty than the gyms of Indigo." The words sounded painstakingly rehearsed - which, by the way Surge was barely able to hold back laughter, he wasn't the only one to notice - but Gladion bulldozed on despite it. "I do not have a badge for you to win, but I do have a challenge."

For one tiny moment, Ash wondered what would happen if he didn't accept.

"I will place an item on the outskirts of Saffron City, specifically the battleground near the western side. Your job is to find, retrieve, and bring the item back to me."

Ash blinked. That didn't sound terribly hard, if time-consuming, and three of his pokemon were perfect for search-and-find missions. A frown crossed his face - if he knew Gladion, there was something he hadn't mentioned. The item actually being one of his pokemon, Gladion hunting for it alongside him?

"During your mission, my own team will be released onto the city," Gladion said with another sharp-toothed grin. "They will attack you. Your job is to keep them away from public areas and defeat them. Every pokemon you have seen so far is fair game."

Ash could feel himself blanch at Gladion's words - attack _him_? That was heavily against League rules, given as his squishy body versus Rhydon only had one outcome. And all of Gladion's pokemon were powerful, mainly Zoroark and Golisopod. The dark type was vicious and as smart as a whip, with Wraith having fought with every bit of strength he had and still only managing to land a few hits, while Golisopod was a walking mountain with armor to rival a rhyperior and the ranged moves to accent that. He was immensely grateful for the rules being _every pokemon you have seen_ , Surge's words of the unbeatable Kumu having kept him in high alert. Ash realized the silence was stretching and glanced back up at Gladion, who had an eyebrow raised.

"Yes. I- I accept." The words didn't exactly show his confidence and so he tried to straighten his shoulders, staring directly up into Gladion's eyes as if he was the one issuing the challenge instead.

Surge's grin widened. "I'm going to enjoy watching Gladion kick your ass."

"I can speak for myself," Gladion muttered, losing the majority of his formality. "But yes. It will take place tomorrow night, as soon as the sun sets, to avoid crowds. The item will be small, about this size-" he curled his hand into a fist "-and not visible. My pokemon will be only roughly instructed by me and will have freedom for the majority else - that should help you somewhat. No visits to Nurse Joy during this time, though of course you are allowed to recall at any time."

Gladion paused, watching as Sabrina began to walk out of the room. Her leg had finished healing a few days ago, the bruise on her cheekbone now an off-yellow, but she still moved stiffly as though she had many more hidden injuries. "Something is happening within Silph Co," she hummed. "I must go."

Surge nodded, stepping back to let her pass. She moved quickly, eyes flashing a pale blue, and was gone.

Gladion turned back to him. "My team is strong, much stronger than yours. With all of your strength combined, you might have a chance - but my team will be doing what they can to capture you and bring you to me. Your pokemon will both have to protect themselves and you, and your commands will have to be flawless to achieve that. Do you understand?"

There was the formal language again. Ash nodded his head, swallowing with a surprisingly dry throat - the last time he had been truly targeted had been with Charizard. But there was no cage this time, no flamethrowers heating the air until his skin caught fire and his team burned. Shaking his head, he nodded again. Gladion's lips quirked.

"Then go get ready," he said, tone properly dramatic, and stalked out.

Ash jerked and immediately ran back to his room, followed by Surge's boisterous laughter.

xXx

 **Hey all, I return!**

 **Sorry for the hiatus as well as the shorter chapter today, but I'll be honest, I'm going to be shortening everything up for a while after in order to still be able to release chapters within a decent time frame. College is picking up so if I** _ **manage**_ **to keep things around a 15k radius, I should still be able to do around once/twice a month. But also, knowing me, expect a couple 25+ because I have no self-control.**

 **Alola mysteries are revealed! Gladion has a test! Ash's team is accepting death to get away from training! Ash is handling everything entirely healthily!**

 **The next two chapters are going to be** _ **significantly**_ **more action-packed, to make up for this one, and hopefully, they should be out much sooner. I was originally planning on having the test be this chapter, but when I hit 17k with just the training, I figured you'd want it this decade (heh) rather than later.**

 **300k words!**

 **Sorry again for the hiatus, and thanks for reading!**


	15. Newfound

Saffron City was… big.

Ash grimaced, tapping his fingers alongside the edge of his pokedex. The device was difficult to manage but he could scroll over the pidgey's eye diagram of the city, buildings done in light blue while streets were shaded green. He kept zooming out until he finally caught a glimpse of the red that made up the border of the city, one small section of the vaguely trapezoid-looking city.

It was a very small piece.

With a groan, he kept searching for the other parts.

By the time he had the entire perimeter on his screen, the yellow of the city gym was a mere blip in the lower left half, which placed him at walking nearly two miles to get just to the battlegrounds. He glared at their wavering orange dots as if that'd make them get closer.

The nice thing, at least, about Saffron City was that it had been designed to be massive: its streets were large, labeled, and organized neatly into a grid system. As long as he could remember whatever led to whatever, he'd make it there in twenty minutes at a trot. He idly wished he could still ride Rhydon successfully - while he could technically cling to the ground type's back by standing on his dorsal spines and getting a grip around his hearing recipients, it was far from stable and generally useless in most circumstances.

Ash pawed around at the map for a while, writing down a list of various routes through the city he could take. He kept one as the ideal path - a straight line through the city - but found others that branched out in various alleys and side routes. Ash doubted he could both avoid Gladion's pokemon and other people on his perfect path but he was allowed to hope - as long as he planned for others.

Today was crawling painstakingly slowly on.

His team was enjoying another day of not moving immensely. He spun around on his swivel chair to give them a cursory once-over - he could have sworn it took Rhydon nearly three minutes to exhale with how deep a sleep he was in - and grabbed his bag. Eyeing how Rook's axeblade was resting a little too snuggly against the drywall, he rooted through his bag. He hadn't had time to reorganize things since his last bout of traveling, and he had to dig past compressed packages of pokemon food and water purifier in order to snag what he wanted. The energy bar was probably a month or so old but Ash was far past caring. He pulled it out, shifting the bag with his other hand, when his fingers brushed a shape through the lining of his secure pocket. Ash paused, running his fingers around the edge - a square.

The solar beam TM.

He pulled it out, brows lowered. The disk felt warm under his fingers, each groove defined and twisting in an elaborate path he could never hope to copy, and beyond the protective casing the disk was vibrant green. The one move to cover every single one of a fire type's weaknesses.

But no. Scorch didn't have the fortitude to learn a new move and also keep up with this sheer level of this challenge. Solar beam was tricky even for those that learned it naturally, and for a pokemon not even of the grass typing, she'd need an incredibly sunny day to get it to its full potential. The challenge was taking place at night.

And it went without saying that solar beam was devastatingly powerful, and decidedly not something that could be used in a city.

Ash frowned, steepling his fingers. That also ruled out earth power - or any ground move, really - thunder, pin, sludge bomb, toxic, heat wave… the list was painfully long. A few members of his team - Wraith, Karma, occasionally Scorch - were mainly whittling pokemon, lacking too many terribly strong moves but having a multitude of ways to avoid their opponents and launch from different directions. The rest of his relied on powerful moves; which were now unavailable. His frown deepened.

Wraith couldn't use his poison, Gale's vicious attacks wouldn't work, Rhydon couldn't use his primary typing, Scorch would have to have an ironwill over her flames, and Rook would have to tiptoe around to avoid leaving massive scars through the cobbled streets. The only pokemon he could see without too much trouble was Karma, given as her power relied entirely on tight control. After two weeks of letting them have free reign of everything, limiting their power once again would be a shock.

And then there was the fact he was going to be the target.

With Gideon, Ash had been contained, trapped. His pokemon had been the only protection he had against a monster of flames and even they couldn't protect him from everything. Ash unpried his nails from his palms when he felt the skin tear, the scar over his chest twinged with age-old pain. He liked to imagine Gladion didn't know about the event, or at least had only heard a heavily filtered version, and that was why he was putting him through this. Or maybe the man who had survived through his own war felt this would be a therapy session, a way to confront his fears. Whatever it was, Ash didn't approve, but that didn't mean he wouldn't be fighting as hard as he could to complete it.

Rhydon as his main protector made the most sense, given his keen ground sense and natural protectiveness that came with being the leader of a herd, but the problem of his sheer bulk and inability to move stealthily was a problem. Wraith could be a final barrier type, sticking to the endless shadows night provided, and Karma could teleport over if anything happened. Rook, Scorch, and Gale would be his main attackers, but their own weaknesses in this situation were bright and flashing after two weeks of having them grilled into his skull. Ash sighed, letting his head fall.

He forced himself to switch over to another tab of the pokedex, the list of notes he'd taken on Gladion's pokemon. Over the course of the weeks, he'd written down everything he knew in order to try and find better ways to counter them, and ended up with page upon page for pokemon he would likely never encounter elsewhere.

Vikavolt was pretty much what he had guessed the first time he'd seen - charged electricity in an organ in her chest, released from her jaws - and while the knowledge of Lycanroc's various forms was interesting, its ability and history was what he had expected. Golisopod had been a shock with the knowledge of its pre-evolution - _seriously_ , wimpod were barely a foot tall - and crobat was already a given, but the last one threw him for a major loop.

Zoroark. From every picture he'd seen online and every time she fought Wraith, the dark type looked mischievous, popping Wraith without any struggle and snickering to Gladion whenever he gave her new instructions to obliterate the ghost's attempts. In Unova, despite being one of the rarest species there, they were incredibly feared.

Even the pawniard line, which were _living blades,_ didn't stand up to the reputation zoroark had.

That was, mainly, to do with their ability. Illusion. The power to weave powerful dark energy in order to change perceptions, able to fool pokemon and humans alike.

It… was dangerous. Not to the point of ditto's transform, but the ability to hide as something nonsequential was incredibly worrying. He hadn't seen Zoroark use it, but she was smart, wickedly so. He had little doubt she would use it when she was actively hunting them.

He pulled at a loose strand of hair, thinking. The best pokemon to go against her would be Rhydon, for his area of effect attacks, Gale, to dodge her claws, and Scorch, for distraction and her resistance to Trio attacks. Ash winced as he yanked too hard, releasing the lock, and returned back to his notes. Strategies weren't coming at his normal speed with how late it was, night slowing down his thought process, but he couldn't help but be excited over one thing - he'd spent so much time working with his pokemon's weaknesses, but now it was time for their strengths.

Gladion's training had whipped them into shape, allowing them to cover the exposed chinks in their armor, and now they could focus on beating their opponents instead of just avoiding being beat themselves. He knew his team had struggled doing nothing but throwing themselves at insurmountable enemies, and this would be what they needed to be revitalized. Finding these strategies was work that made his heart flare happily despite how each of his blinks took a few seconds to open back up.

Ash shook his head, glancing back at his team. Everyone was asleep now, Bulbasaur curled against the window and only black streaming through the glass. The room was pitch beyond the pale glow of his pokedex.

He glanced again at his notes - sloppy, half-finished, rambling.

Ash needed sleep. A lot of it. With a sigh, he clicked off his pokedex and set down his pencil, a yawn escaping unbidden from his lips. He fell asleep before he ever hit the bed.

xXx

Ash was… a little impressed how nervous he managed to be over breakfast.

This was the one time Surge hadn't just chucked a sandwich at him, instead dragging him over to the café-style room at the back of the gym. A few other psychics-in-training were there, including a natu that jumped from head to head as people moved to a table, but Surge cheerily ignored them and pushed Ash toward a booth in the corner. His team was allowed to be released - Sabrina's gym didn't have the same rigorous rules as a regular Pokemon Center - and they waited by the table as Ash attempted to balance their multiple bowls to bring their food back. Surge snorted and snatched up Rhydon's massive berry plate, leaving Ash to hurry behind him. His team all but inhaled their food.

He was having something that smelled and tasted like oatmeal except for how it was a vague red-pink, most likely made from leppa berries. It'd kick in as an extra shot of energy for the day, with any luck. It was a little too sweet than he was used to but he warmed to it quickly, even getting a second bowl as his nervousness appeared to manifest in sheer hunger.

His team was spread out in a loose ring around the table. Rhydon hunched over with his bowl of berries, even the table too short for his massive height, and his dorsal spines bristled with the uncomfortable position. Scorch was under the table, Bulbasaur on the chair next to Ash, Gale clumsily standing on the ground due to the lack of perches. Wraith hadn't emerged yet, still recovering energy, and Karma's meal was gone in seconds so she could properly meditate. Rook cheerfully speared each bit of his meal, splattering red-orange juices over the ground. Ash set aside a few napkins to clean it up later. As the dark type ate, he could see the psychics prickle with annoyance.

Surge was across from him, looking annoyingly relaxed. Ash wished he could find it in himself past the anxiety to glare at the man. Last night's adrenaline rush of planning strategies had evaporated neatly in the stone-cold morning air.

He didn't realize his knuckles had turned white over his stationary spoon until Surge grunted and broke the spell. Ash blinked and returned to eating.

"I'm seein' a problem here," Surge finally said, lazily dragging his eyes around the room. Rhydon rumbled at him.

Ash frowned around another spoonful. "What?"

"There's a distinct lack of electric types," Surge yawned, a grin spreading over his face. "You would've thought with how long you spent around me you'd have realized how fucking awesome they are."

He couldn't hold back a snort.

"Indigo's chockfull of some good ones - hell, pikachu live right on Pallet Town's doorstep, and there's electrive, magnezone, ampharos, jolteon… your options are fucking endless and you haven't picked one."

"Rhydon is practically an electric type," Ash pointed out, gesturing with his spoon. "I can even teach him thunder punch."

"But that'll never _amount._ It's a battery to a thunderstorm. Raichu could kick Rhydon's ass without breaking a sweat even if he only used electric moves."

Ash snorted. "Just wait until I teach him earthquake. It'll be all over."

Surge matched his snort with an equal amount of arrogance. "You're taking your sweet-ass time to teach him that move. It's the one everyone expects you to already know. I've seen trainers start rhyhorn on the basics and call themselves slow."

"Those rhyhorn go straight from bulldoze to earthquake and you know it," Ash countered, jabbing his spoon in Surge's direction again. "It'll take them years to get earthquake to its true potential if they're lucky. They never learn how to ask the earth."

"And I'm sure your precious Rhydon will sing kumbaya with some dirt and get it on his first try."

Ash grinned at him. "It'll be faster than if you tried."

Surge raised his eyebrows, leaning back. "My Alolan golem already knows it, runt. Your rhydon couldn't hold a candle to him."

They bit at each other for the rest of the meal, and Ash found that quipping at Surge made the anxiety melted from his shoulders. It was like his friendship with Gary, all insults not meant to insult, but that brought up memories of white sheets and the stench of hospitals so he tried to focus on anything else instead.

Breakfast seemed to melt away with an actual conversation to fill the time, his pokemon finishing up and joining in as best they could, and Ash was able to hold himself back from grabbing a third bowl. Surge polished off the last of his massive meal and let their insults die off naturally, pushing himself to his feet.

"I'm goin' out with Sabrina for a patrol today," he grunted, stretching his arms up. "Gladion's still working with his team so you've got another day to yourself. Don't waste it."

Ash nodded, Rhydon rumbled by his side. The electric-master grinned before striding off, shouldering his way through the door. It banged behind him, summoning another glare from the huddled group of psychics.

With the help of Karma, he dropped everyone's bowls back off at the counter and hauled the team back to their room. They begrudgingly left the warmth of the room, stomachs full of high-protein meals, and padded their wall back to the room. Ash attempted to jitter his way through the plan one more time, Karma's mustache twitching as she relayed alternatives from the rest of the team.

The day crawled on with painful slowness, hours taking years and the sun hardly seeming to change from its position. Gladion had said when the sun went down they would begin but Ash was starting to believe it never would now, frozen in the sky. Even winter's closeness couldn't dull the sheer heat being in a large city created, and Ash was looking more and more for the Welcoming Day of the First if only to escape this sluggish heat. He paced the perimeter of the room again.

Being a trainer wasn't supposed to mean sitting around in a room doing nothing. Ash groaned and kept kicking himself around in his swivel chair, watching the ceiling twist above. Rhydon rumbled from his position on the floor, horn spinning idly. A layer of dirt was on the ground around him - he hadn't used rock polish in a while and even the slightest movement made the air grow hazy with dust. Ash smiled and the ground type blinked at him, spines rustling.

Gladion's test was in less than an hour.

Ash fought the urge to nibble down another protein bar - he'd already eaten enough for two meals, _why_ was he so hungry - and reread through his notes again. He could practically quote them word for word, now.

Quietly, without any fanfare, the orange disappeared from the sky.

It took Ash a moment to notice, spinning in his chair and finally noticing the light from the ceiling was the only light he had. Excitement thrumming through his bones, he shot to his feet, clipping his pokedex back to his belt. Rhydon perked up immediately at the movement, tail shifting. He didn't stand yet - not that he easily could, in this overfilled room - but kept his gaze fixed solidly on Ash, scarlet eyes bright.

Ash's smile widened into a grin.

Scorch yawned, exposing her fangs, and pulled herself up to her paws. She'd been curled by the desk, tails curled over her nose, and without Tide to counteract her the ninetales had made the whole room more than pleasantly hot even with the window open. She purred as he stroked behind her ears, eyes closing, and shifted to pad behind him as he walked to the rest of his team.

Rook was already awake - he still wasn't entirely sure that the dark type slept for more than an hour or two every night - and the pawniard screeched a reply of some sort as Ash tapped his domed head. Bulbasaur snorted at the sound but didn't turn away from the now-black window. Gale pulled his head out from under his wing and glared around the room, but even his crest flared when he saw Ash up and moving.

Wraith pulled himself from Karma's shadow - who seemed entirely displeased with the action - and swirled to existence near the ceiling, spines rustling like a crown of thrones. Karma hissed, mustache twitching, but her colors were still the honeygold-red of excitement.

Everyone was excited.

"Alright guys, let's get ready," he tried, straightening his shoulders. "Everyone up. Sunset's coming."

With a rumble like shattering stone, Rhydon shifted until he got his arms underneath his chest and pushed up, pulling a few strands of carpet out via his claws but managing into an upright position. He snorted out a cloud of dust and hunched over as his horn nearly missed the ceiling - Saffron Gym's rooms were small than what was considered traditional for pokemon trainers, which made sense given the normally short nature of psychic types but was decidedly unpleasant with Ash's less-than-small team - but nothing remained of the sleep he had just been in.

Rook shot upright, scoring a clean mark in the drywall behind him with his bladed arms. Ash winced but gestured for the pawniard to come closer, away from anything he could damage, and kicked lightly at Gale's talons. The fearow squawked but stepped off his perch, half-stretching his wings in the cramped space. Scorch's ears went flat and she growled as the wings nearly smacked her, but Ash stepped between them before anything could happen.

Everyone was _also_ on edge. Two weeks of training to two days of nothing had a way of playing with the mind.

Wraith reshuffled his spines with a hiss and phased through the outer wall. Ash popped open the door and recalled Rhydon and Gale - no chance they were making it through this unfairly tiny doorway without causing some damage - and walked through, team padding behind him. Karma shut the window with a curl of power, prompting Bulbasaur to hit the lights with her uninjured vine.

Gladion had said the front of the gym when the sun went down. The sun had technically already gone down and Ash picked up the pace to a worried trot.

A kadabra blurred out of existence as he moved toward it, leaving the corridors empty. He'd since memorized the paths of the gym - with thanks to Bulbasaur for putting up with his failed first attempts - and it only took a few minutes before he was by the front gates.

Ash gave himself a second of staring up at the gleaming silver-etched doors, exhaling slowly, before pulling one open and slinking through.

Gladion stopped midconversation with Surge and glanced toward him, platinum hair perfect as always. Surge snorted at Ash's less-than-perfect appearance and crossed his arms, Raichu chittering on his shoulder. Gladion took a step forward, rolling a pokeball over in his palms. Ash narrowed in on it, suddenly keenly aware that that pokeball was very empty.

A grin warring with nervousness, Ash nodded to Gladion as the rest of his team filled outside. He grabbed for his first two pokeballs and released them next to the rest of the team. Rhydon rumbled, horn whirring, but kept still. His eyes seemed to glow in the dark of the night. Gale circled overhead but, with nowhere easy to land, begrudgingly drifted down to secure himself to Rhydon's shoulders. His massive talons looked cartoonish next to Rhydon's bulk.

Ash stifled a snort.

"You know the rules," Gladion said, voice back to the monotonous, memorized tone he'd had before. "Go to the western battlefield, retrieve the item, and return it to me, here."

Ash nodded, glancing back at his own team. They were listening just as attentively as he was, even Bulbasaur. She had visibly perked up, crimson eyes bright as she watched him talk.

"No Pokemon Centers, no damage to Saffron City, and avoid any other living beings." Gladion's smile sharped several degrees. "I would not suggest hiding, either - Zoroark is an excellent hunter."

Ash really, really wished he could get away with glaring at him.

Gladion stepped back, seemingly done, and nodded at him. Surge flashed a wicked grin, raising a hand to mockingly salute him - Raichu's cheeks sparked in an answering laugh. They were almost scarily in sync.

Ash paused, glancing around again. Sabrina wasn't there - probably still working at the Silph Co situation - so Gladion would have to do, for now. Bulbasaur had never really warmed up to the constantly loud Surge.

She snarled but left the group when asked, even letting Ash tap her head with only minor annoyance. "Stay with Gladion, will you?" He asked.

She stared at the platinum-haired man, eyes narrowed, but eventually nodded with a grunt. Ash smiled at her and straightened back up, letting her pad over and settle down a few feet away from him. Surge seemed a bit miffed he hadn't been chosen, but Ash guessed Bulbasaur wouldn't actually stay very close to Gladion. She only liked to be around Wraith, which was saying something considering the ghost's personality. Team Rocket was something to bond over, he guessed.

But that was everyone accounted for. He looked to his team, forcing his own shoulders to straighten up, and nodded. Rhydon mirrored him, Gale extending his wings overhead, and with a final glance back toward Gladion Ash turned and moved left away from the gym.

It wasn't pitch black outside yet but it was teetering right on the edge, Saffron City's streetlights steadily rising in brightness but still only able to do so much. Steel reflected the glow and cast odd shadows over the cobbled streets but Ash moved quickly, rather determined to ignore everything else and just focus on the task. Find the item. Retrieve it. Avoid Gladion's team.

The absolute second he was around the edge of a building and out of Gladion's sight, Ash stopped dead and turned back to his team. Rook screeched in question but Ash held up a hand, mind whirring like Rhydon's horn.

"Okay. Gale, Wraith, and Karma out for surveillance, everyone else be ready for a battle. I think we'll either find Vikavolt or Lycanroc first, so we're going to move fast to try and get as far away from the city before they find us. Everyone, you have to hold yourself back. If we damage something, we'll have to pay for it."

Rhydon rumbled at that - he was a walking behemoth built for mass destruction - but nodded. His armor rattled against itself as he shifted.

Ash held up his three pokeballs and grinned - it was a little shakier than his normal but it was there. Rhydon rumbled as he was recalled, lowering his head with the whirl of his horn. Scorch purred for hers, air instantly growing colder without her presence, and Rook stayed silent. The scarlet mist disappeared into the pokeballs, Ash wincing as the light burnt away any adjustments he had made to the darkness.

It was time.

Wraith melted immediately into the shadows, spines rising a few feet away as he circled. Karma bobbed into the air, psychic bubble inflating higher and shines flowing out into their active form. He heard the crackle of baritone laughter in his bones.

Gale, with a gleam in his black eyes that would have sent a tyranitar back to its mountain, pushed off the ground with as quiet of a shriek as Ash had ever heard. He was going to be running loops over the city, keeping watch the farthest away. Keen eye would be invaluable with how dark it was growing and he'd be the deciding factor if even Sabrina's training didn't let Karma find the dark energy of Zoroark.

His team ready, Ash pulled out his pokedex and switched over to the map function. Saffron City gleamed before him, his planned path etched in a pale blue. He glanced around again, half expecting Lycanroc to already be there, before he started to move.

It was surprisingly quiet. Psychics didn't like night and so few were out, and since Ash had found every single back road to avoid any crowds, the most he encountered were the far-off noises of voices and a warning touch of blue-green from Karma. Wraith's fangs appeared occasionally from the shadows, warping the walls of an alleyway or jabbing out spikes as they rounded corners, but he hadn't reacted to anything.

He tapped twice at his pokedex to zoom in further and kept walking, hackles raised so high he felt like Scorch. Peeking around the edge of another massive building, he glanced back at the path before taking a step forward.

Karma hissed.

He didn't stop but slowed - she was floating a few feet above his head for a better vantage point, shines gleaming with reflected power, but her eyes were squeezed shut instead of just closed and her ears were pinned flat. He hadn't seen an expression of such apparent pain on her in a long time.

Memories returned. Ash tensed - this wasn't anything like her Eyes of Bone experience, no strange blue-white energy burning through her skull, but it wasn't normal. Karma hissed against nothing, shines wavering on their edges, before turning to him.

 _Som-thing._ Her voice crackled in the way it hadn't since she was a kadabra. _Pushi-g out energy. Too much, not controlled, but po-erful._

Wraith rose a second late, bloody eyes bright, but he shook his head when Ash looked at him. Not close, then - Wraith didn't have nearly the range for non-ghostly energies that Karma did - but strong. Moving slowly back to his team's side, Ash ran through the options - most likely not Zoroark, since she seemed like the last pokemon not to have complete control over her typing, but that could also be a trap. Golisopod didn't have much in the way of ranged dark moves and Vikavolt relied mostly on pure electricity. That left Crobat or Lycanroc.

Ash put two fingers in his mouth to whistle before stopping - that would alert Gladion's entire team to their position. He prodded the mirage of colors in his mind.

Karma's eyes glowed further, still popping with dullness as the energy presumably ran through her, and looked upward. A streak in the pure black of the sky raced overhead.

 _The Striker has seen n-thing. The Crobat h-s not revealed itself._

Lycanroc, then. Ash glanced around again and stared back down at his map. A little over a third of the way to the western side, which meant no chance that they could make it outside the city limits before finding the rock type.

He paused. The rock type.

Rock types, though they didn't have the natural ability of ground types, could be trained to have a groundsense. Being Gladion's pokemon, Ash would have to count on it instead of guessing, and Lycanroc was bleedingly fast. If he got less than even a heartbeat of Ash's footsteps, he could be on them in under a minute.

He cursed under his breath, zooming out of the map to get a sense of what was around. Numerous alleys - it was one of the few housing districts - and plenty of places for ambush. Karma floated down to glance at the screen, orange-green rising up through her mirage of colors.

Ash blinked.

"Karma, can you levitate me?"

Her ears flattened in the impression of a frown, eyes gleaming as she tilted her head to the side. _It would hurt._

"What about making a barrier under me, and lifting me up that way?"

This time, Karma blinked.

 _Yes._

Ash took a few steps back as Karma raised her shines, eyes narrowed and ears pricking forward as she prepared something strong enough to hold his weight but thin enough to be moved easily. A second later, a rippling sheet of blue-green energy flared into existence, a few inches above the ground.

He eyed it for a moment - stepping on anything transparent was something few found comforting - before getting on. It didn't so much as bend beneath his weight.

Wraith rose from the shadows, eyes glittering with curiosity, but Karma pushed out her left shine and jerked the barrier away. Ash yelped and flung his arms out to keep his balance, but Karma had kept the movement surprisingly smooth. Wraith hissed but didn't try to get close again.

"Okay." Ash took a deep breath. "Let's go up - maybe second, third floor - and try to find him. Okay."

Ash wasn't _bad_ with heights, per se, quite the opposite - back in Pallet Town, he and Gary would explore the miles of forest surrounding the town, climbing fallen trees with determination that had grown from nothing and coming home with more cuts than victories. Finding any slumped log propped high enough to be exciting was something they would explore for days, crawling over every inch until the view was no longer that same sense of wonder and they were off in search of another.

But snapped trunks and a transparent sheet of psychic energy were two separate things entirely, and there was something to be said about that being his only protection.

He held tight to his pokedex as if it was a lifeline as Karma carefully pulled them both up, probably anchoring her psychic bubble to the barrier to avoid having to inflate it that much, and stopped at a sweet point about two and a half stories up.

Ash sucked in another breath, glancing down once to cement his position and regretting it, before nodding. Time to find Lycanroc before he found them - while the wolf pokemon had seemed playful and energetic enough during training, he had seen the way he fought with Scorch. "Alright. Let's go."

With a tug of Karma's shines, he began drifting forward, over the silent streets of Saffron. Ash wobbled from the motion and eventually gave up, sinking to his knees for a lower center of gravity, but he kept his eyes firmly fixed either forward or on the map of Saffron, directing Karma with light nudges to her consciousness. The Steel Jungle of a city moved by but it seemed very different from this high up, the streetlights pale dots of color and only black above.

He hoped no one opened their window.

Wraith trailed from below, able to freely roam with such excess of shadows but unable to follow Ash's shadow up. Every now and then, Gale would streak overhead, the only noticeable sign of his presence the gusts of wind his enormous wingspan caused. Karma continued to twitch more sporadically as they moved on. Getting closer, then. Nerves prickled down Ash's spine as they floated on, wind catching his hair and the air far colder, but he could see beyond anything he had ever seen before, only the sky overhead and the world stretching out before him. Was this what being a flying type felt like?

He could understand now, at least in the part of him that wasn't panicked, why Rook was so obsessed with the fact that Gale could fly.

They continued to move for what felt like hours, moving at a slugma's pace, the night creeping steadily onward. The moon had appeared past the outer layers of Saffron's buildings, a sliver of a crescent made from pale white, and Ash crouched lower over Karma's barrier. Every instinct that had kept his alive as a trainer was pinging, raising the hair on the back of his neck. Something was close.

Karma shifted them around another turn and stopped. Ash swallowed a yelp as the momentum rocked him forward a few inches, knuckles white around his pokedex, and glanced down.

In the back of the alley, nearly disguised in the shadows pouring out from his rocky mane, crouched Lycanroc. He was using some sort of dark move that bled from his fur as easily as air, forcing Karma to twitch and flatten her ears. She couldn't push back with her own aura lest alert Lycanroc to their presence, and Ash had noticed Wraith disappearing fully into the shadows. Both were on edge and weakened by the move's presence. Whatever it was, it was strong.

Some part of him was just so happy they had finally found Lycanroc, because the suspense had been killing him, but a larger section started to plan. His best contenders for Lycanroc were Scorch, because she had been throwing herself at him for the past two weeks and knew how he fought, Rook, for a tiny, nearly indestructible bullet with blades sharp enough to get past his mane, and Wraith, for his ability to be the ultimate distraction.

But from this high up, facing a pokemon that could flee far too easily and make them lose their only advantage, Ash was going to have to rapidly change his plans.

Pokeballs didn't have nearly any sort of range, often barely able to reach battlefields, and there was no chance he'd be able to aim properly to land a teammate by Lycanroc. He also couldn't lower himself because canine pokemon were notorious for having incredible senses, and Ash did not want that dark move directed at the psychic power holding him up in the air.

Scorch could technically fall from this height, even a little lower if Karma could manage that without alerting Lycanroc, but she would be injured right from the bat and Lycanroc had spent the last two weeks beating her into the ground without struggling. Wraith would be out - the sheer amount of dark energy would leave him crippled - and Lycanroc had too many opportunities to flee if he heard any sign of something approaching.

That left Rook.

Rook couldn't join them on the barrier because he was a dark type - touching anything Karma created would dispel it - but _maybe_ Ash could hold him far enough away that Karma could keep it going. Send down Rook as a temporary distraction, enough to get Lycanroc to stop using his dark move so that Wraith could join as another distraction, then have Scorch patrol the exit of the alley.

Alright. Ash opened his mind and let Karma poke around what he had made of a plan - a very _rough_ plan - and though she was sending him filtered green-blue messages of worry, he could feel her acceptance.

They didn't have another plan, so this would have to work.

 _Get me lower,_ he thought as loudly as he could so it would reach her, _as low as you can without alerting him._

She twitched her mustache in response, raising her right shine. The barrier hummed beneath Ash's fingers, a silent tremble of being reconnected to Karma's power, and began to lower.

It was painstakingly slow, even more with the silently watchful figure of Lycanroc below, and Ash held his breath tight in his throat as they descended. Karma brought them maybe five feet before stopping - Lycanroc's ear had twitched.

A singular twitch, but plenty to alert them. Ash froze against the barrier, heart staccato in his chest. The rock type let his ear flick back to face the alleyway, but he was crouched further, tail drifting from side to side behind him. It was only good luck that he hadn't decided to investigate the noise further - they couldn't rely on that again.

Ash needed a distraction. He prodded the fog in the center of his mind, glancing up - Wraith formed from the shadow made by the overhang of the closest roof, fangs glittering from his shrunken size. He shifted his gaze to Karma, who stared back. _Tell him we need noise in the alley._

Karma's eyes flared past the dullness the dark energy had caused and Wraith bared his fangs in a silent hiss - he never liked when Karma communicated with him, digging in through his poison to get past the ghostly energy - but nodded. He melted back into the shadows like wax.

Ash pulled Rook's pokeball and had a brief nightmare of dropping it. As soon as Wraith made a noise, he was releasing the dark type, whispering the plan, then dropping him. The steel type was practically invincible - he had done some training exercises on Cinnabar that Rook had taken to mean "jump off every conceivable surface to attack things" - and if he landed on Lycanroc, there wouldn't be much property damage. His feet weren't bladed, only clawed, anyway.

Ash exhaled again, really wishing he had a better plan. Lycanroc had taken nine iron tails to the back without so much as a stumble, and Rook weighed, at most, twenty-five pounds.

He shook his head just as a guttural _bang_ surfaced from outside the alley. Wraith shrieked in a manner not audible, just a tremble that raced through Ash's bones, sending ducklettflesh to burst over his skin. Lycanroc slunk toward the entrance, shadows pulling from his fur like trailing ribbons, ears focused entirely forward.

Ash pressed the release button before he could convince himself otherwise and jerked his arm out.

Rook appeared with a low screech, blades flashing, but Ash managed to get an arm beneath his feet and another around his back. The dark type opened his fanged mouth as if to shriek again but Ash shook his head, trying to keep as tight of a hold as he could without cutting himself. Already, twin lines of pain ran down his forearm from the claws on Rook's feet.

"I'm going to drop you," he all but mouthed, staring into the golden eyes of the pawniard. He could feel the barrier waver beneath him, Karma's control slipping from being so near a dark type, and tried to be as stable as he could. Wraith was still doing _something,_ a ruckus swarming near the front but just tasteful enough it seemed quiet, but Lycanroc would find him eventually and then would escape. "Hit Lycanroc."

Rook struggled once more, cutting more into Ash's arms. He mouthed a curse - had the dark type not understood? - and made to explain again when Rook managed to turn himself around, narrowly avoiding slicing Ash's hand off with his ribcage blades, and jumped himself.

Ash lunged forward to see.

Rook had deceptively strong limbs - he always had - and Ash's arm was _apparently_ springboard enough to launch him. He streaked through the air, the only visible sign the gleam of his silver, and Lycanroc only had time to perk his ears and start to turn before Rook slammed into him like a bullet seed.

Ash was moving the next second, biting into the sleeve of his shirt and trying to tear off enough to bind his arm. "Take me down!" He mumbled, reaching with his other hand to find his third pokeball.

Karma shot them both down, ears pinned, and stopped five feet above the ground. Ash clicked the release the next second, and before the scarlet mist had even coalesced, he shouted, "Guard the exit!"

Lycanroc roared, the sound painfully deep for such a lean pokemon, and reared. Rook was only visible as a black blur as the rock type bucked and spun, lashing out with claws and a move-infused tail to try and tear him off. Rook had landed feet first but he'd followed up immediately with his chest, securing an attach - it'd take fresh hell to get him off, though he wasn't able to attack again with the position he was in.

Ash managed a semi-decent tear and wrapped it around his arm, wincing at the red that was already bleeding through. Being Rook's trainer meant he ended up with far more injuries than normal but now was, really, the worst time. He pulled it tight with his teeth and lunged his focus back into the fray.

Scorch howled, tails whipping like live wires, and sprang forward. Fire curled from her release tail and then she was blitzing around Lycanroc, spitting embers - small enough they'd burn out on the cobbled streets - to pepper his coat. He roared back, stopping dead. Rocks split off from his mane and flung themselves at her. Rook raised an arm to use night slash but Lycanroc spun again, whipping him with his tail - fighting energy, counter?

Lycanroc couldn't run into a wall or anything to shake him off - that would only push Rook deeper, and the longer he was on, the more deadly he would get. The wolf was Gladion's pokemon - he wasn't an idiot.

Ash whistled and felt something mold to his shadow, something whose bloody eyes were fixed on Ash's arm. "I'm fine," he said, voice taut, "but I need you in there. Get Rook out - Lycanroc is going to do something."

Wraith hissed in agreement and melted away again.

Karma floated them higher - Lycanroc had heard the whistle and had looked at him for a second, only a second, but his eyes were bright and focused. Ash retied the bandage and searched for Scorch. She was circling the pair with quick attack, making a barrier that couldn't be crossed, but she couldn't use quick charge lest burns the streets.

He lost so much power fighting in the city.

Wraith appeared with a howl and spat a shadow ball into Lycanroc's face, forcing the wolf back. He sprang forward, regular two hands swirling out in front to grab the dark type, when Lycanroc recovered _far_ too fast and slammed his paws into the ground with a shrieking roar.

A wave of dark energy, uncontrolled but devastatingly potent, exploded from his fur. Wraith popped immediately - Scorch hit the opposite wall with a yelp. Rook hung limp from his side, stunned for only a moment, and that was all Lycanroc needed.

The wolf sprung upward, giving himself enough time in midair to lunge his head back and snag the back of Rook's neck. The pawniard struggled for a moment but was popped off, blades swinging wildly and managing to shave a section of Lycanroc's back, but the wolf ignored it and threw him across the alley hard enough to embed his chest in the wall.

Ash gaped. Lycanroc _couldn't_ learn a dark move like that - only biting ones - what the hell had Gladion taught him? "Wraith, Scorch, move in!"

 _Barrier the entrance,_ he thought. Karma touched him with a strand of red-purple and disappeared, teleporting silently toward the entrance to protect it. A wall of pure energy covered any escape. Ash stayed curled up on the barrier, floating only a few feet above the ground, fingers tight over his pokeballs. Rhydon couldn't do much against such a fast pokemon while being unable to pull up the ground around him and Gale was at a disadvantage in this narrow space. They'd have to be enough.

Scorch blurred forward with a stream of orange following her - she'd activated flash fire - and charged at Lycanroc. He spun to face her but she sidestepped at the last second, throwing herself away just as a crunch snapped the air where her side had been. She slammed nearly three iron tails into his side, jerking him back, only for the reformed Wraith to arrive and latch clawed hands around his back legs.

Lycanroc howled and released another wave of dark energy, forcing Wraith to drop to the shadows to avoid being popped. His ectoplasmic skin thinned from even the presence of that much power. Scorch skidded back, ears flat and tails whipping, but the rock type ignored her in favor of staring at the alley. Blue-green barriers, stretching nearly thirty feet up, gleamed in place. Karma was behind them, shines held high and ears pinned. Wraith reemerged from the shadows with a hiss, fangs growing to swarm his open mouth. Rook struggled to detach himself from the wall, two of his chest blades embedded in the surface, but he had already freed one at that point. The wolf stared at it all, crouched. His mane glittered with growing rocks.

Ash felt Lycanroc move an instant before he did.

A gale kicked up and the rock type _disappeared_ \- accelerock, it had to be - barely visible as more than a blur. Scorch tried to fling herself toward him but a whipped tail threw her back - Lycanroc continued running. He pushed off the ground and flew forward, fangs bared and eyes burning.

Right into Rook.

The pawniard had no chance - he was torn from the wall before he had so much as a second to react, the back of his neck held like a misbehaving pup. Lycanroc kicked off the wall and rebounded with the momentum, flying overhead of Scorch and striking the ground hard enough Ash could feel the hit in his bones. Rook swung from his mouth, blades flying, but despite the cuts that began to litter his muzzle Lycanroc didn't care. He sprinted down the alley, glowing white, before stopping with enough force to fling Rook with all the speed of a hurricane.

Karma's barriers didn't stand a chance.

The second the dark type hit them they shattered instantly, falling away as shards of disintegrating power, and Karma hissed from the connected pain. Rook hit the ground below her feet with the screech of steel against stone and stayed still - Lycanroc crouched again in preparation to run.

Ash wobbled.

Karma had lost focus - Rook was too close to her - but whatever it was the fact was that her barrier had lost its connection to her. He jerked back to his feet for the balance and stretched his arms out, crouching low. The barrier wavered beneath him - his sheer weight was applying enough pressure to wear it out - and the street grew more in focus.

One of Lycanroc's ears twitched back.

Ash barely had a chance to react before the wolf sprang at Karma, forcing her to teleport out. Her power disappeared in a blink. Lycanroc hit the ground and turned back, never stopping. The barrier wobbled again, trembling, and shattered.

He fell the seven feet to the ground. His knees caught most of the damage but he still stumbled upon landing, hand flying out for balance and hitting the ground in a kneel. Wraith immediately melted into the shadows and appeared in front of him only an instant before Lycanroc kicked off the opposite wall.

A wall of fire interrupted his flight - Scorch only used her release tail and in her efforts to minimize damage, Lycanroc was only pushed back instead of stunned. But the time was time needed - Wraith burst forward with a vengeance, four separate hands flying for each of Lycanroc's limbs. Two were popped with a circling array of stones from his mane but the others grabbed a leg and pulled. Lycanroc yelped as he was pulled off the ground, writhing, but he seemed empty of the dark energy he'd been pushing out, in order to resort to using Rook. Scorch flung herself forward with quick attack, snarl building.

Ash bolted to his feet. "Wraith, throw him up! Scorch, iron tail! Karma, catch him!"

Lycanroc roared, rocks splitting from his mane and filling the air, but Wraith kept as tight of a hold with the one hand he had left and jerked the wolf up. Immaterial muscles had no limits and the rock type flew nearly ten feet up, thrashing.

Scorch spun, her three longest tails gleaming with iron tail, and let blue fill her eyes. Extrasensory gave her the exact coordinates her regular senses couldn't and the second Lycanroc was within reach, she swung with everything she had and hit true. Something cracked and the wolf flew backward, directly into a box of barriers Karma had built.

Everyone stopped.

Lycanroc was unmoving within the barriers, a collapsed heap of brown-white, and he didn't try to get back up.

Ash wheezed, forcing himself to breathe. He shook his head and dragged himself fully back up, patting himself down to check for anything wrong. His left knee twanged in pain but it wasn't bad, and the makeshift bandages he'd used on his arms had stopped the bleeding.

Scorch padded over, flash fire dissipating from her fur with the hiss of light smoke, and nosed at his chest. He patted her behind the ears, still wobbling in his stance. That had been… an intense battle. A truly intense battle. Lycanroc was outnumbered, trapped, and without the main source of his typing, but he'd still managed to throw them around without too much trouble. He'd popped Wraith and-

Rook. Ash half stumbled his way over to the collapsed heap of black and grey, slowly regaining his balance. The pawniard was stuck again, blades embedded in the ground, and the angle had him entirely pinned. He screeched in frustration, clawing at the stones as if they would let him go.

"Easy, Rook," Ash tried. "Stop."

The pawniard did so immediately - Ash was apparently still his bisharp - and settled for glaring at the ground with his golden eyes. Ash could feel the scar of his consciousness thrash with his anger.

He didn't seem too injured, though the armor around the back of his neck was dented from Lycanroc's fangs and his blades weren't meant to go through solid stone. Ash got his hands around Rook's chest, avoiding the jagged edges, and managed to pull him out with a grunt.

Rook stared at his chest, at the four chipped, dulled blades caused by sticking to so many inanimate objects. He screeched again, the sound mournful.

"Sorry, bud," Ash whispered. He couldn't fully understand Rook's pain but he could emphasize. "When we finish, I'll get you as many whetstones as you need, okay?"

The dark type screeched back something Ash took as a _yes._ He held up his pokeball and Rook allowed himself to be recalled without complaint, still staring at his chest. He'd taken the worst beating of the fight, as well as having been actively used against his teammates. Ash bit his lip - while Rook wasn't a terribly sensitive pokemon, he had an incredibly strong sense of loyalty. Being used to break Karma's barriers like he had and being stuck for most of the battle wouldn't wear well on his psyche.

"Is everyone else okay?" He called, the three members trickling back in to surround him. Karma's ears were flat and her colors were the pale green-blue of regret, but he shook it off. "Not your fault. None of us saw that coming."

Scorch yipped - she hadn't really been touched, taking up the ranged position she had - and nodded her head. Wraith hissed begrudgingly - he and his hands had been popped, multiple times - but he seemed still full of energy. His ghostly fog rippled with power.

"We're going to try and run to the outer edges," he said, steepling his fingers and ignoring the shake. "Fighting the city is reducing our power too much - if we can make it there fast enough, there's a chance another one of Gladion's pokemon will be there and we can take them by going full out. Karma, where's Gale?"

 _Approaching,_ she hummed, voice smooth again in the absence of Lycanroc's shouldn't-have-been-possible dark attack. _He heard the fight but only the ending - he says the Crobat is somewhere but he cannot find it._

Ash frowned again. Crobat was fast, even more so than Lycanroc, and he had precious few pokemon that could fight a flying type that had no qualms about never touching the ground. "To the battlegrounds," he said again. "And with Lycanroc out, I don't think we need to worry about groundsense."

Ash glanced up and decided to take a risk - he whistled his single note, as loudly as he could, that he used to call back Gale. Karma's eyes flared as she searched around, in case anyone had heard, but after another second she flicked her mustache and let the glow fade away. Clear, then. Karma could have reached out to him but Gale wasn't exactly the type of pokemon that liked receiving orders from his teammates.

He clicked the release on his first pokeball, and Rhydon appeared. The ground type bellowed, horn spinning and stance squared off, but he didn't try and fight when nothing was present. Ash put a hand on his starter's chest and Rhydon looked at him, a questioning rumble building in his throat.

"We just took down Lycanroc, and we're trying to go toward the battlefields. I want you out now, okay?"

The ground type nodded. His gaze drifted to each of the pokemon out, checking for injuries.

"Alright. Karma, Wraith - same positions as before. Scorch, I want you on extrasensory aimed up - try to find Crobat to help out Gale." He frowned, glancing up himself - the sky was pitch black. "Karma, try to help too."

"And Rhydon," Ash swiped a hand through his hair, grimacing at the sweat already beading at his forehead, "I want you to take up-"

He stopped.

From across the street, a woman stared at him with the most intensely dumbfounded expression he'd ever seen. Her eyebrows seemed to have already passed her hair.

Ash became very, very aware of the four massive pokemon huddled around him, most certainly disobeying every unofficial law of Saffron City, and talking with a more-than-healthy dose of fear for what seemed like a quiet night.

He tried for a wave.

The woman stared at him for a moment longer, gaze switching between each of his pokemon, before she briskly walked away. It was less than ten seconds before she disappeared from view.

Ash barely bit down a laugh.

Seemed he hadn't been entirely successful in avoiding populated areas.

"And Rhydon, can you be behind me with your groundsense?"

He rumbled in agreement, spinning his horn once. A few tendrils of electricity crackled at the end, sparking softly against the air. Ash grinned, feeling the hair on his arms stick straight up. That was the power of his starter.

Scorch purred, eyes burning blue, and started down the road. Ash thought through the rest of his strategies as he followed her, pulling out his pokedex for the map once more. One pokemon done - only four more left. He rubbed absentmindedly at the outline of his burn scar.

A shriek echoed from above. Ash had time to glance up before Gale's wingspan obscured his entire vision - the fearow had grown immensely over the past month or so, surprisingly fast - as the avian landed. He squawked, talons splayed for a sort of grip, and stared at him.

"We defeated Lycanroc," he said, stopping for the moment. The fearow's crest flared. "We're hurrying to the battlefields to try and get this done."

The fearow seemed miffed at missing the battle but nodded, beak flashing like a sword.

"Keep up your search for Crobat, but stay closer to us this time - if we find Zoroark, I need your razor wind to blow away her illusions if she creates any. Same for Golisopod. You'll be the main fighter for that." Ash frowned, thinking again. "And if it comes to it, I need you to be prepared to carry me out. I know we haven't practiced actual flying but you can grab my shoulders and at least get me away from the battle. Is that okay?"

Gale made a move as if to nod, raising his beak in preparation to lower it when something caught his eye. He squawked, staring upward - wings spreading and talons scraping at the cobbled streets.

With a shriek that rattled the bones in Ash's chest, he pushed off and exploded into the sky.

Ash yelped and fell back, the wind from Gale's takeoff nearly pushing him to the ground. "Scorch! Hit me!"

The ninetales crouched, tails whipping, and blue surged over Ash's eyes.

Everything was clear - so, so painfully clear in the way how the streetlight was a sun and he could see every different line etched in every stone of the entire street. Karma's fur was a thousand colors and the hum of the electronics in his pokedex was all he could hear - he shook himself, forcing his head up to the sky.

It wasn't dark anymore - he could pick out the blues, the purples, the indigos and violets and navys - but twisting against the backdrop of a few scattered stars were two shapes. Two familiar shapes. Even with extrasensory, he could hear Gale's shrieks only distantly.

Ash closed his eyes, the dryness burning like a fire, and gestured to Scorch. She cut off extrasensory with a sort of snap that echoed through his mind. He rubbed at his still closed eyes, not willing to open them yet, and mouthed a curse.

"It's Crobat," he said, practically growling. "It taunted him up." None of his pokemon could fight at that height beyond Wraith, but the ghost wouldn't be able to properly battle a flying type in their element that high up. The pair of them were ridiculously far. "Karma, I need you to help him - make barriers, use flash, anything - just get Gale out of there as soon as you can."

The alakazam stared at him, ears pinned with an odd sort of nervousness, and nodded. Without so much as a whisper, she disappeared up.

Ash kicked at the ground. He hadn't considered Gale's almost immediate rivalry with any flying type faster than him and Crobat merely had to exist for him to chase it. Karma could go that high temporarily but she wasn't built for immense heights like Gale was - problems would come quickly. They had to finish this fast, since even with extrasensory to see the battle it wasn't like he could actually direct Gale. He and Karma were on their own.

"Come on," he said, trying to keep a brighter tone in his voice. "Let's go."

Rhydon rumbled, spinning his horn, and started to walk. Ash trotted beside him, the ground type's stride infinitely longer than his, and kept his eyes pinned on the road ahead. Occasional sparks of light popped from above - heat wave, flash - but nothing fell and Karma didn't reach out beyond her basic stream of colors. Gale was doing his part - Ash had to do his.

Saffron City melted away beneath his nervous pace. Neither Wraith nor Rhydon sensed anything approaching - beyond a dream-hunting drowzee, which Wraith chased away with the threat of jagged fangs - and the edges of Ash's wariness started to soften. The orange outline of Saffron on his map grew closer and closer, the space left to travel disappearing.

And then, all at once, the immense buildings of Saffron City disappeared like they'd be carved off. The thick forest of Route 7 loomed in the distance, a darker mass of shadows amidst the black, and he could just barely see the outer villages that surrounded Saffron. There were precious few housing districts with Saffron, most space taken by businesses, so people lived in one of the houses in the outer rings. Ash was immensely glad that Gladion hadn't included that location in where he'd be hiding the item.

The battlefields were spread in front of him, massive expanses of turned dirt with the dividing lines of cement walls. There were three of them in this corner of the city, each nearly the size of a standard League battlefield, and no streetlights existed here. Scorch's eyes streaked pale blue light over her surroundings but that wasn't nearly enough.

 _The item will be small and not visible._

Ash squinted at the fields again, reaching down to tap Scorch on the side. She glanced at him, head cocked. "Can you hold some fire?"

She barked an affirmative and extended all of her tails into a golden waterfall, shutting off extrasensory. Dry heat trickled out from her fur. Scorch inhaled sharply and then nine different fires burst into existence, fluttering on the edge of each of her tails.

The area was immediately lit up. Scorch went about spreading out her flares, keeping one on her longest tail and carefully drifting the others out to the battlefields. Each was positioned evenly spaced, an orange glow flickering over the dirt. He could hear the distant crackle of the fire and everything was lit now, just as bright as if dawn once again.

Ash grinned. Arceus, he wished he'd had her for his first time through Diglett's Cave.

He started forward, padding onto the closest field. Not visible… that could mean under a psychic illusion, or buried, or guarded by another one of Gladion's pokemon. Wraith slunk out from a crack between the lighting, bloody eyes narrowed, but he didn't seem to be reacting to anything. His natural presence would weaken or even destroy a psychic illusion, and Ash would just have to chance it in case Zoroark was here. He guessed she wasn't - there wouldn't be much point in letting them light up the area before attacking, as nocturnal hunters fought best in the dark - and so turned back to Rhydon. The ground type rumbled at him, tail shifting.

"It could be buried - about this big." He held up his fist.

Rhydon rumbled again, the sound like grating stone, and tapped his tail against the ground. A ripple raced outward, the earth displaced by force of Rhydon's request, pushing Ash up a fraction of an inch before disappearing into the distance.

A moment passed where Rhydon kept his eyes closed, tail twitching as he followed the vibrations with his groundsense. Before long he straightened back up and pointed toward the farthest battlefield. Wraith abandoned the one he was searching and surfed the shadows to that one, spines flashing. Scorch gathered her extra fire back up and snuffed it out, keeping the ones needed still up, and trotted over as well. Ash grinned and all but sprinted towards the proper battlefield, slipping his pokedex back onto his hip.

Rhydon lumbered over, scarlet gaze bright, and he led Ash over to a corner of the field. The dirt looked the same as anywhere else but Rhydon thumped his tail against the ground again, narrowing his eyes.

With a groan, a narrow section of earth tore itself up. Excess dirt spilled outward, pushed away, and after nearly a minute, the ground revealed a tiny package, still pinned underground.

Ash whistled, eyes wide. "How deep was it?"

Rhydon grumbled, holding his claws far apart. He aimed a glare at the hole that seemed almost ten feet deep.

Ash knelt, brushing away the last of the dirt to pull out the package. It was a brown bag of sorts, about the size of an envelope, tied tightly to avoid getting any dirt inside. It didn't feel like anything, maybe just a placeholder to have a physical object to search for. He turned it around in his hands, feeling the weight - almost nothing - before finding a loose strip of the string that had been used to close it. He hooked it onto one of the open slots of his belt, the one normally used for flashlights. Ash had one, back in his bag - he never really used it because, well, Scorch existed.

"That's it, I guess," he said, patting it. Dirt rained down his leg from the packaging. "Everyone be ready - someone could still show up."

Wraith hissed, sinking back into Ash's shadow. He enjoyed the night hunting, at least - it was beyond easy for him to travel without ever touching the air, which made him devastatingly fast. Scorch dissolved the last few fireballs, the sparks sinking against the ground to crackle before dying, and padded back over.

A shriek, barely audible through the distance, boomed over Saffron. Ash winced as an answering clap of power, almost like thunder, echoed.

Gale was still going strong, apparently.

He prodded the presence in his mind again, unable to stop himself - he didn't want to distract Karma from her fight, but he also hated having them away from him, fighting something he couldn't see. She took a second but sent him a flurry of yellow-red in response, immediately disappearing again. Ash shook his head and tried to focus on the present.

Karma and Gale could handle themselves. He trusted them.

Rhydon started his odd walk again - tapping his tail with every step to be certain of anything around them - and Ash moved to be in front of him. This was the farthest battlefield and Saffron City gleamed silver in the distance. Half of the journey was already done.

Ash shook his head, grimacing - a headache had surfaced in the back of his skull, pulling at his nerve endings with all the serenity of a vengeful ghost. Scorch kept up a few of her embers, lighting their path until they could get back to Saffron's streetlamps, and he was carefully following their glow. Rhydon made an odd, curious sound from behind him, and when Ash turned to glance, he was staring at his claws like he'd never noticed them before. His scarlet eyes were narrowed.

Wraith pulled himself out of a shadow with a hiss and simply floated beside Ash, hands gone and spines twitching. Scorch padded up to mirror him, but her own ears were flat against her skull. Saffron City grew closer, and Ash only barely noticed a few of his fingers going numb.

He could hear something soft that only served to make his headache worse, rapping his knuckles against his skull as if that would help. One pokemon down, and another located. Ash glanced up, still unable to see his two pokemon. Occasional pops of light gleamed over the city from flash.

Zoroark could be anywhere, Vikavolt could hide and strike, and Golisopod would be hard to miss. Ash still didn't have much of a strategy for Zoroark, but Rhydon's thick armor would stop most of her claws and Gale could pick at her from a distance. Maybe Scorch could make a barrier with fire spin, since Zoroark could destroy anything Karma made almost instantly.

He was finally clued in that something was wrong when his leg simply refused to move and he fell flat on his face.

Rhydon bellowed, immediately lunging forward to grab at him. Ash tried to push himself back up but he could only twitch, limbs splaying with instructions not his own, and he shook against the ground. The ground type knelt by his side and managed to grab at him, sliding claws under his chest and jerking him off the ground.

Something fled from within him, jumping down the length of his nerves before disappearing into the points of Rhydon's claws. Ash coughed, grabbing at his starter - the last of the numbness retreated.

 _Electricity._

He twisted, staying in Rhydon's grip, to look at his other two pokemon. Wraith was visibly wavering, the power almost strong enough to pop him but not quite. Scorch was pressed flat against the earth, tails twitching. Both of them, almost paralyzed.

Hands jerking, he managed to grab at his belt and click the two buttons. Wraith and Scorch both disappeared in a puff of scarlet mist.

For the two - and Rhydon, most importantly - to not have noticed the paralysis until it was too late, it must have been filtered into the air incredibly slowly. Whoever was creating it was close, and had to have been watching them. She had probably started releasing electricity the second they'd appeared on the battlefields.

"It's Vikavolt," Ash coughed, voice still refusing to cooperate. "Your lightning rod - it's saving you. Can you see her?"

Rhydon rumbled but he didn't look away - he curled Ash tighter to his chest and let his horn spin, drawing the electricity faster toward it. The air visibly crackled with sparks, lazy and drifting but there. Vikavolt should be close - Rhydon needed to fight. "Bud." His voice wasn't strong but it was better than nothing. "Bud."

His starter crooned at him, eyes panicked and wide, and Ash struggled upward. Something in the distance flickered - coming from Saffron City - and the electricity redoubled in the air around them. Rhydon roared, and Ash could feel it, the ground type's chest shaking with the effort of his call. Far off, Ash heard an answering buzz, and then a lance of pure electricity snapped toward them.

Rhydon spun immediately, taking the thunderbolt against his back. It all fled up to his horn because of how fast he was spinning it, having learned that trick his first week in Gladion's training, but Vikavolt had ample time to get closer as he turned back around. Ash grabbed at his arm, feeling painfully small.

Vikavolt looked much larger at night, sparks jumping between her massive jaws and lighting up the gold in her colors. Rhydon rumbled at her, pulling Ash closer to him. He could avoid most of her electricity by using his trick to speed up his lightning rod, but Vikavolt was far from entirely reliant on that - her bug buzz, mud shot, and solar beam were deadly. Rhydon didn't have any other teammates that could survive in this electric field. He was alone, here.

More lightning burst to life, jumping around her jaws, and she fired a triple shot. Rhydon sprang back and hunkered over Ash, who curled his limbs in - his horn spun but Rhydon whined as a few layers of his stone-keratin armor was burnt away.

Vikavolt swooped in closer, wings invisible with how fast she beat them. It was going just like it had back in training, and Ash couldn't double team her with the constant thunder wave she was releasing from her wings, and Rhydon's armor would be whittled down until he was stuck. He reached for a pokeball, any pokeball, for a chance-

Rhydon _bellowed,_ slamming his tail against the ground. The battlefield exploded upward in a swarm of dirt and earth. Brown-grey filled the sky - Vikavolt buzzed and swerved up to avoid it, jaws crackling, but Rhydon didn't attack her.

Instead, the dirt swirled up and formed curtains, massive, shifting walls of earth layered over him in a misaligned dome, covering them completely. Vikavolt hissed and spat another thunderbolt.

The electricity made it through three layers of dirt before fizzling out. The barest of sparks popped harmlessly against Rhydon's back.

Ash stared. This- this was widespread, their combo of smack down and rock blast, but used to such a different level than he normally did. Rhydon rumbled and made the dirt swirl around them, sweeping up the burnt layers and mixing them with others until it looked just as it had before. Vikavolt, barely visible through the grey, circled them slowly.

Rhydon rumbled again, spinning inside the dome - while he'd kept Vikavolt and her electricity out, he'd trapped himself in without a way to attack. Ash shifted in his claws until he was practically curled up in them, staring out at the blurry blue-yellow form. He reached a hand out as if to touch something but hissed as electricity crackled against his fingernails, immediately pulling his hand back. Viakvolt was redoubling her efforts to capture him.

Battlefield dirt wasn't true dirt, most of the time - too expensive and hard to handle; it was a combination of regular dirt and quartz sand. Sand solidified under heat - "Rhydon, flamethrower!"

His starter roared and a torrent of flames raced from his maw, hitting one of the closest barriers. Charred dirt fell to the ground but the sand solidified, forming a wavering, incomplete wall of murky grey glass. Rhydon's control slipped as it lost its composition as anything resembling earth but he lashed out with a lance of dirt, jerking the glass upward. Vikavolt blitzed out of the way but the glass shattered from the hit, exploding through the air. The bug hissed as her carapace was cut, a single tear ripping through her left wing. Rhydon blew out another flamethrower to stop any glass from reaching them, dry heat filling the air. Ash twisted to get a better view of the fight. The sharp tang of ozone coated his tongue, hair standing on end. He could smell smoke.

A bug buzz slammed against Rhydon's side, making him bellow - he spun in her direction but his own curtains blocked his answering attack. Ash dug his hands into the cracks of Rhydon's armor to stay on, feeling lightning curl against his back - even though he was secured on Rhydon, that didn't mean he couldn't feel the constant thunder wave, running alongside his veins like lava, moving without hurting him but still leaving him very aware.

Rhydon roared as something smote him over the face, leaving a blackened burn - bug buzz? Thunder? - and Ash yelped as the ground type retreated backward. Rhydon immediately stopped but then Vikavolt was able to get past the barrier, lightning crackling, jaws extending with a burning hiss.

Rhydon slammed his tail into the ground.

A stone edge burst upward, slamming into Vikavolt's carapace an instant before her jaws closed around Rhydon's arm. She buzzed furiously as she was thrown to the side, spindly limbs flailing, and Rhydon took the moment to move further back. The curtains fully fell to the ground as he concentrated on something else, keeping one arm wrapped around Ash even as he shuffled backward. Heat gathered in the hollow of his throat, horn still spinning furiously. Ash could see blooded beading in the cracks between his armor, sensitive skin under direct assault.

He couldn't use thunder, horn attack, or stomp because Ash was right there, present in the battle, with a very soft and squishy body - but Rhydon wasn't an idiot. He'd spent two weeks fighting Vikavolt, trying every strategy possible just for a chance to win.

So instead, he curled Ash closer, braced his claws against any cracks he could find, and slammed his tail into the ground hard enough to rattle the earth.

Four massive stone edges exploded upward, stabbing at the barely-recovered bug type. She flung herself upward with the hiss of escaping electricity, pushing herself with a crack of lightning, and circled overhead. Lightning wreathed in coils of pale green - bug buzz - crackled around her jaws.

Rhydon tore up a coil of widespread, the dirt weaving tightly in the space above his horn - his control had gotten infinitely better - and rumbled up at her. She buzzed back, kaleidoscope eyes flashing. More energy surged to her side.

Neither of them saw her move.

Rhydon only had a second to twitch his ropes of smack down before Vikavolt disappeared, glowing the brilliant white of agility, and slammed an x-scissor into his back with her jaws. He bellowed more from surprise than pain and spun, but his cognizance of Ash's presence left him too slow. Vikavolt blurred around him and peppered him with small-charge bug buzzes, hitting the undersides of his limbs - she was trying to make it too painful to move again. Ash inched higher - even as curled up as he was, he was still nearly half Rhydon's height. Rhydon rumbled but Ash managed to get to his hearing receptors, feeling the sting of electricity stronger now that he was closer to his horn.

"Flamethrower and horn attack," he whispered, steeling his own courage. "Do it."

Vikavolt swung by for another charge - she understood now that she couldn't do ranged attacks against him, when he had enough time to prepare a counterattack - jaws dripping with pale energy. Ash waited a heartbeat, two - she scored a clean hit across Rhydon's back, making the ground type bellow as it struck true.

Time.

Ash tucked his knees to his chest and kicked off Rhydon's chest. The ground type roared in confusion but Ash was far enough away that Rhydon was safe and no longer weighed down-

Rhydon leaned back, saw Vikavolt's blurred figure, and released a maelstrom of flames.

Red burned the sky - he heard a distant, sharp chitter of pain - and it was all he could see. Even without sunny day it was like it had been back at Erika's gym, too much fire to be feasible leaving the ground type's mouth. Dry heat roared over the field.

Ash twitched against the ground, paralysis already catching him, but his eyes glowed with reflected light.

Rhydon lunged forward with speed born from desperation and jabbed - there was a crunch as Vikavolt was hit. She buzzed, lightning crackling bright enough it was clear through the fire, but Rhydon bellowed back and didn't let up. Vikavolt buzzed again, then again, and stopped.

The last remains of the fire trickled away.

Ash sucked in a dry breath - Vikavolt had stopped pushing out thunder waves. His chest ached and he could feel electricity still arching through his body, violent little stings of pain, but it was fading. He struggled into a sitting position only to come face to face with Rhydon.

The ground type had looked better - whenever he used flamethrower like that, there was nothing he could do to protect himself from the damage. Black lines were scored over his entire face, twisting up his horn, and more littered his chest and spines. Vikavolt's bug buzzes had carved narrow lines through his armor and Ash could see shards of clouded glass in the cracks between.

His eyes shone with something beyond physical pain.

"I'm sorry, bud," Ash offered, leaning forward and hiding his wince to wrap his arms around Rhydon's muzzle. The ground type rumbled into his chest. "But I was holding you back. She just kept hurting you."

A puff of dusty breath hit him and Rhydon pulled back sharply, message clear. Ash bowed his head in a silent apology and felt the ground type nose his chest again. A smile flickered over his face and his friend rumbled at him, the sound soft.

The ground type reached out and helped Ash up, the contact pulling more lighting from his system. He winced as it fled, pulling at nerves for every step, but his feet were stable beneath him and he could feel every one of his fingers again.

"If I was a pokemon," he muttered, running his hands over his pokeballs to make sure they were undamaged, "I would want lightning rod as my ability. That was awful."

Rhydon snorted. The ground type spun his horn, the whir filling the quiet night air. Smoke, created from burning the ground, still steamed in the air.

Something creaked from behind them.

Rhydon snarled, voice like a mountain, and pushed Ash behind him. He squared up, facing the battlefield, and bellowed his war challenge.

Ash blinked.

Vikavolt was floating, limbs splayed and jaws straight, but her eyes were still dull and she did not move. There was a hole in her carapace, not deep, but plenty to put her out of commission. One of her legs twitched before falling still.

Ash jerked forward and slapped a hand over Rhydon's chest. The ground type stopped, confused, but even as he bared his teeth and spun a crackling horn he saw what Ash saw.

Vikavolt wasn't awake - her wings weren't beating, her body was splayed, and she didn't move. Something was picking her up, careful to move her slowly. Ash and Rhydon watched as she drifted upward and started to bob back toward Saffron City.

"Alakazam?" Ash tried, voice a bit faint.

Rhydon rumbled, sounding just as confused.

"That does make me feel better about just leaving them there," he said, watching the blue-yellow figure disappear into the distance. "Sabrina must be watching, then."

Rhydon reached out carefully and patted Ash on the shoulder. Ash reached up as best he could - Rhydon was rapidly approaching seven feet, now - and returned the favor. A resulting crackle of static electricity jumped between them.

"How did you come up with that?" Ash asked, carefully letting his legs stretch. They still popped and jerked like they were disobedient, discomfort filtering through with how stiff they were. "The dome, I mean."

Rhydon shrugged his massive shoulders, eyes worried - he tapped Ash's shoulder again as if to take more electricity.

"It looked good." Ash coughed again, grimacing. "That could become a powerful area of attack move - or battlefield control. Getting earth power to kick up more dirt would also be helpful. Could you make it larger?"

His starter growled at him, and the six months they had spent together let him decode the message easily. _Focus._ "Alright. Okay."

Ash pulled out the bag they had just fought for, glancing at it again - while the edges seemed crumpled from his multiple falls on it, the overall shape was fine. He rehooked it back on his belt and turned to Rhydon.

"Is there still electricity here?" He asked, brows furrowing.

Rhydon rumbled, tilting his head in a nod. Ash carefully reached out and put a hand on Rhydon's arm for protection. He could still hear lazy cracks and pops echoing in the distance, Vikavolt's sheer presence releasing excess electricity. It faded into the distance, returning to the pitchblack ambiance. Distance calls of murkrow filtered through the air.

"We'll head back to the city before releasing anyone," he said, though he couldn't help but grimace. Rhydon wasn't in peak shape - far from it - and it was only luck of finding such a helpful strategy that he'd managed to get out of the battle as unscathed as he was. But even though the ground type tried to hide it, Ash could see the difficulty in his movements, the awkwardness tugging whenever he tried to shift his limbs.

But that was his starter. Rhydon was determined and stubborn and Ash knew he couldn't recall him without a fight.

Ash exhaled again, pulling out his pokedex. It made the most sense to take the same route back - presumably, Gladion's other pokemon would be more spaced around other exits of the city. He reached out again, prodding the mirage of colors in his mind. No response.

Okay. He could do this.

Saffron City grew closer as they walked, Rhydon letting electricity crackle over his horn for some semblance of light. Ash kept his hand over Rhydon's arm as they traveled, even as his hair dropped back down from standing straight up and he lost the ducklettflesh. The battlefields disappeared behind him - he felt a brief sting of apology at the mess the Saffron City officials would have to clean up after his battle - and the city loomed once again, buildings springing up from seemingly nothing. Rhydon rumbled and stopped charging his shock wave, letting the streetlamps take over.

Ash zoomed further in on the map, tracing the path. The streets gleamed silver around them, standing true to Saffron City's unofficial name, and the streetlamps weren't near bright enough to light anything up beyond the first floor. Ash finally removed his hand from Rhydon's shoulder in order to handle the pokedex better, feeling a last spark of electricity jump between them. The ground type rumbled, tapping his tail against the ground. The ripple raced out, much smaller than the ones he had used at the battlefields.

Fifteen minutes into the track and Ash's nerves were racing high enough he wondered whether they would ever come down. Scorch was the only true pokemon he had that was mostly uninjured, and he didn't even know where two of them _were._ Flying battles, when not contained within a battlefield, were notorious for taking painfully large amounts of time because the battlers had no limits. Forcing their opponent to chase them on mile-long stretches wasn't unheard of.

Fearow had incredible endurance.

Ash gritted his teeth and traced a line out to the blinking yellow dot of the gym. Ten minutes, maybe more - both him and Rhydon weren't exactly moving at their fastest pace. His hand strayed back to the package on his hip, just to remind himself it was there.

But two of Gladion's pokemon were done, and a third was hopefully on the way - the same pokemon his team had been throwing themselves at heedlessly for the past two weeks. A warmth spread through his chest at that. How far they had come couldn't be ignored, either. Ash peeked around another corner, the pale orange of the streetlamps showing nothing at the opposite end of the alley, and started toward it.

Rhydon froze.

Ash nearly kept walking until he didn't hear his starter's footsteps, turning back around. Rhydon's eyes narrowed and his tail tapped against the ground, the earth trembling lightly beneath his feet.

"Something?" Ash whispered. Rhydon nodded, eyes flat. He pushed an arm out and fully extended his claws, gesturing widely. "Something large?" Rhydon growled, low in his throat.

Golisopod, most likely - the massive bug type would be an open book to Rhydon's groundsense, and Ash guessed it would be almost impossible for him to hide in this city. He slunk back out of the alley, staying against the wall.

The bug type was immensely strong, armed with multiple limbs, a carapace thick enough to shrug off a hit from Rhydon, and simply large enough that in a battle it would be almost impossible to avoid damage to the city. If Ash wanted to take him down he'd be destroying both his team and his surroundings just to have it happen.

Rhydon's tail twitched again and his eyes narrowed, a puff of dusty breath escaping his blackened nose.

Ash dropped his head. This was a battle he couldn't afford to take, not when Rook and Karma hadn't found a single strategy against him and his team was too injured to properly fight against the behemoth. "How can we avoid him?"

Rhydon stared at him.

Ash stared pointedly back at the charing splintered over his armor.

The ground type sighed, a final crackle of electricity shooting up his horn. He tapped his tail against the ground harder, sending a ripple out that Ash could feel - a pidgey shrieked from above and took off as the building it was roosting on trembled. Rhydon closed his eyes, claws twitching, before turning to point in the exact direction Ash had been heading.

He stared toward the alley. The bug type was over there, and he still had Rhydon, Scorch, Wraith, and Rook. It would be a hard battle but he could win.

But not without damaging both his team and the city around. There was still Zoroark and Crobat left.

So instead he nodded, glancing back at his pokedex, and found a new route to avoid the entire area, which would leave them up at the other end of the gym. Another ten minutes onto their estimated time, even if they hurried, which was plenty of time for Zoroark to find them.

But Ash wasn't going to risk his pokemon fighting Golisopod, so he nodded to Rhydon and started in that direction.

This path couldn't avoid nearly as many side alleys and Ash could only smile awkwardly at the groups of people who passed him. Rhydon lumbered over him, horn spinning periodically, and his scarlet gaze glared at everything within a mile radius, which didn't help. The streetlamps were duller in this part of the city than anywhere else, to help with psychic's strong reaction to sensory problems, and Ash stayed close to walls to try and light his path as well as he could.

Something echoed in his mind, a tiny spark of colors, and Ash stiffened. Rhydon stopped as well, glancing around.

A shriek echoed from above, a rush of wind coming down. Ash cranked his head back and squinted as a black shape fell from the sky and landed in front of him with a pained squawk, the resulting shockwave of air nearly pushing him backward. Someone across the street yelped.

Gale looked like he'd been through distortion - his left wing was twisted back awkwardly, not broken but definitely injured, and his beak gaped as he panted greedily. More than a few primaries were gone and others were bent, which could only have made his flying slow and clumsy - more injuries doubtless lurked beneath his thick coat of feathers. A cut gleaming purple was stark against his neck. Poisoned.

But no one could deny the sheer pride that burned in the fearow's pitch-black eyes.

Karma teleported down a second later, the only sign of her exhaustion the tilt in her shoulders and dullness of her eyes. For the alakazam, it was practically a neon sign, though she was able to get the story across past the shakiness in her voice. Hit with several ghost moves, it sounded like.

 _We used many double teams, flashes, and barriers. The Crobat was much faster than all of us, but we were able to chase it away._

Ash frowned - "Chased it away?"

 _It did not stay to fight, and it was holding itself back, but we damaged it enough it disappeared back into the city._ She sagged again, claws only a few inches above the pavement. _It was very strong._

"But are you okay?"

Karma flicked an ear toward Gale. _The Striker is poisoned and his flight is greatly reduced. I am very low on energy._ Both of her ears flattened. _It is hard, fighting that high up._

"Thank you," he said. Karma sent a plume of honey-red to him. "To both of you. Gale, we need to talk after, but thank you for taking it out."

The fearow shrieked, pleased, but even his wings sagged and his long neck was nearly brushing the ground. He made a token of protest when Ash held up his pokeball but disappeared into scarlet mist without so much as a squawk.

Karma stared at him, her ears still pinned and eyes dull and tired. She was doing better than Gale, probably due to the fact she had hung back while Gale took the physical fight, but her shines only moved sluggishly around her neck and her limbs sagged. "Are you okay?" He asked again.

 _I can be called out if needed,_ she hummed. _But I would prefer to rest if not._

Ash hurriedly recalled her. There wasn't even a hint of the mischievousness she always displayed when talking about being recalled, nothing of the spark in her pitch eyes. She disappeared with a slight incline in her head. He stared at the spot he had occupied, mind racing. She hadn't been that injured since the fight that had forced her to evolve. Crobat was strong.

Rhydon crooned when they left. He bumped his muzzle against Ash's side and he jerked back to attention, clipping the pokeball back to his belt. "Sorry, bud. Thinking. Let's go."

The ground type rumbled. Ash walked on, starter by his side.

Two pokemon left. That was it. He was down most of his team but if he could avoid Golisopod and get to the gym before Zoroark found him - because it wouldn't be the other way around with such a devious pokemon - it would be fine. The package bumped against his thigh as he walked.

Rhydon directed him, constantly letting his tail hit the ground - Golisopod seemed to be circling the gym in a wide arc, moving surprisingly fast - and Ash and Rhydon had to duck into various alleys to cut in or out to avoid him. The yellow blip of Sabrina's gym became closer and closer.

Until Rhydon stopped him, tapping his tail again. His eyes brightened.

They were at the last turn before the gym, adrenaline spiking high in the last stretch, but Ash felt that little spark of hope. "Gladion?"

Rhydon rumbled, sending out as small of a ripple as he could manage. A second later, he tilted his massive claws from side to side.

"The same weight, then." Ash gave himself another second leaning against the steel wall, touching the bag at his side, before turning around the corner and facing the sprawling construction that acted as the heart of the city.

Lights gleamed from only a few windows, the lining streetlamps even duller than those in the city, but it was enough to outline the tall figure by the entrance. Ash could see the glint of platinum hair in the man's very recognizable dreadlocks. Gladion.

Rhydon rumbled and padded after him, but he was beyond exhausted now, tail dragging and horn no longer spinning. Vikavolt had taken everything out of him and he had been running on pure adrenaline after, the knowledge he was leading Ash safely through the city all he had left. Ash thumbed his pokeball as he crossed the street.

Gladion stepped out into the light to meet him, the same quietly bland look on his face, but Ash thought he could see the hints of a smile there. "You have done well, Ash." His voice had a rasp past the professional tone.

"Thanks," Ash said, a little too tired to give much else as an answer, and turned back to Rhydon. "You did awesome, bud. Rest."

Rhydon rumbled but allowed himself to be recalled - he was barely able to shift his head in a nod past the burns littering his neck. Ash turned back to Gladion, who hadn't moved. "Your team is incredible."

Gladion chuckled. "Many thanks. Do you have the item?"

Ash patted his side again - he'd done it so many times over the past hour yet he was somehow afraid of losing it - and pulled the string off the hook on his belt. Gladion nodded, extending a hand. He started to head over, opening his mouth to comment on how deep he had gotten it underground, before he… stopped.

The night was quiet between them. Utterly, painfully quiet, in the way outside rarely was.

There was nothing at Gladion's feet.

Bulbasaur could defend herself and knew it - she wouldn't be scared inside by this fight when she knew she wouldn't be the target. She'd be waiting for him, for Wraith, even with the lack of sunlight. Bulbasaur was quiet and stubborn but she knew how important it was to Ash that he knew she was safe - Gladion's pokemon would never attack their leader and by his side would be the safest location. Beyond that, she didn't like Surge, so there was little chance she would have switched to be by him. Sabrina's natural aura messed with her poison sacs. She should have been at least close to Gladion.

But she wasn't there.

 _She wasn't there._

Ash barely had a second to reach for his pokeballs before Gladion's skin melted off.

He caught a single second of red flesh before black fur exploded outward, Gladion's face disappearing behind a mass of bright scarlet, clothing fading into a pitch coat, hands sharpening to claws - in a heartbeat, Zoroark snarled from where Gladion had been, eyes a vicious, burning blue.

 _Shit-_

His finger hit the button and Scorch appeared a second before Zoroark moved.

The ninetales was immediately flung to the other side by Zoroark's dagger claws, yowling - she slammed tail-down into the ground and struggled back to her feet. A curl of flame from her release tail stopped another charge, Zoroark disappearing back in a blur Ash could barely track. The dark type snarled, baring her fangs. Scorch growled back.

His mind raced - without flame charge, Scorch wouldn't be fast enough and all the fur in the world wouldn't protect her from Zoroark's claws - neither Wraith nor Karma could stand up to her sheer mastery over her typing - Rhydon would be all but sitting still - Gale was too injured-

Ash grimaced, grabbed his final pokeball, and released.

Rook appeared, screeching. His armor was dented from his collisions with the walls and indents from Lycanroc's fangs but he hardly seemed to notice, blades scraping against the ground as he dragged them upward. Zoroark blinked down at her two-foot tall opponent.

Scorch coughed an array of fireballs, each streaking toward her with their own pattern. Zoroark flung herself around and spat a massive dark pulse instantaneously, no charge time needed. An explosion black with shadows burst out, concussive sound sending Ash back a few steps. The dark type immediately sunk to all fours, ears flat, and charged toward Scorch, the bloody scarlet of her mane the only thing visible.

Scorch erupted into a cone of fire from sheer instinct alone and four clones jumped out of the way just before Zoroark hit her. Ash winced at the damage to the street but knelt by Rook, who screeched.

"We're fighting Zoroark - you're going to be my main fighter. Scorch will trap her and I need you to attach, use thunder wave and brick break as much as you can."

The dark type nodded, eyes surprisingly excited given his quiet personality, and turned back to the battle. Scorch yelped as Zoroark sliced into her flank, flash fire only managing to singe her fur before the dark type disappeared back in another blur. It didn't even look like agility - just her sheer natural speed. Her other clones were already obliterated - how fast was the fox?

Rook screeched and ran forward, banging his blades together - the metal sound visibly shook Zoroark and dragged her back up to her hindlegs. Ash cupped his hands over his mouth. "Scorch! Fire spin!"

The vulpine barked and released a torrent of flames from her tails.

She was careful - it never dipped more than a foot away from the ground - but it roared outward in a cone of pure heat. She swung her control tail forward and directed it, limping - Zoroark's claws had torn directly through her muscle - and shaped it into a circle, hissing and spitting.

Rook and Zoroark were inside - Ash could barely see Zoroark, and Rook's feet were the only things visible. He rose onto the tips of his feet in an effort to see.

The pawniard was shuddering - fire was one of his few weaknesses, and this heat was doing no favors to his already-injured armor, but he still slammed his blades together and screeched at his opponent.

Zoroark stared at Rook for a second, before her eyes rose. Ash met the ice blue gaze with his own, the dark type staring at him past a current of fire.

A puff of pitch black smoke trickled upward and she disappeared.

Ash cursed.

Scorch blurred backward as a torrent of water erupted toward her from nowhere, dropping the fire spin for more speed - the water disappeared the instant it hit the ground, evaporating into more smoke.

Rook stumbled out of the circle, dodging the last few sparks, and stared around in utter confusion. There was nothing - no sign of their opponent. Zoroark was just gone.

Ash became painfully aware of _something_ and sprung backward.

Zoroark appeared a second later, claws sheathed but reaching for where he had stood. She kept staring at him, blue eyes daggers, and disappeared into another puff of smoke. Scorch yowled, still sprinting from blasts of water as large as hydro pumps. They never connected.

Ash tucked his head down and ran towards Rook, the closest defense. Something erupted from behind them - a flamethrower of the brightest blue he had ever seen, he slammed his arms over his face in an attempt to protect himself -

Rook watched curiously as the fire raced over them. He didn't so much as blink at the flames that would have melted his blades down to little more than molten piles of steel. Ash untucked his head in time to see Rook wave an arm through the last trickles of fire, the blue harmlessly splattering against his blade.

An illusion.

Rook could see through them - no, that wasn't right. That wasn't a pawniard's power. Rook was a dark type, a nocturnal hunter - if he relied on his purely physical senses, he'd have died long ago. Instead, he searched for auras, using his own dark one to find others.

He could sense the dark energy in the illusions.

Maybe Zoroark was weakening them, maybe he just had an idiot of a pawniard, but that was an advantage Ash had and he was going to take it. "Rook, can you sense her?"

The pawniard screeched, looking around. He shook his head after another moment. Okay. So he could sense that the moves washing over him weren't true moves, but he couldn't find anything else. Ash spun again, keeping his arms tight to his sides. Zoroark still wasn't there but he could feel her aura, overextended and flowing through the clearing like a tidal wave. Every hair on his arms was standing straight up.

Scorch whined, blurring toward him. No more water attacks came but she looked exhausted, the overuse of quick attack taking a hearty toll. He tried to smile reassuringly but they were still standing there, hunted by an invisible opponent.

 _Zoroark's illusions are easily broken - a single moment of physical contact will return them to the smoke they came from._

"Heat wave," he murmured, narrowed eyes flashing around the clearing once again. "Keep it high and fast."

Scorch splayed her tails out, each in a different direction. She inhaled, eyes flickering blue as a sort of last check, before she released a wave of dry heat that burned with excess embers. It crackled through the air.

A pillar of smoke erupted less than three feet away from them.

Zoroark snarled and lunged - Scorch was the closest. The vulpine was thrown back by the foul play, golden fur already scarlet, and the dark type blurred away the next second. She didn't resummon her illusions but merely circled them on all fours, shadows trailing from her bloody mane.

Ash crouched low next to Rook, who screeched fearlessly at the fox. Scorch managed to pick herself back up and spit a blast of fire to chase off the attacking Zoroark. She flung herself back to Ash's side, the dark type hissing at the burns littering her fur. Zoroark continued circling them, eyes slits against the night.

He hadn't known just _how_ Zoroark used her illusions - he'd thought it would be something like ditto, frightening pokemon by turning into their natural enemies or coming out as something massive, not faking moves and going invisible. Ash tried to track the dark type as best as he could but she was wickedly fast.

He needed to slow her down. One of his pokemon knew how to do that.

"Rook, thunder wave!"

Rook screeched, dragging himself upward. Yellow lit up the area as electricity crackled to life over his axeblade, bright enough it burned, before he launched the thunder wave like it was thunder itself. Zoroark snarled and flung herself to the side but Rook's tracking was something to be admired - the lightning exploded like a flashbang against Zoroark's side, the fox thrown back.

Zoroark tore herself up to all fours, seemingly before she even hit the ground, but char raced over her fur and she was panting. Yellow crawled between her ears, limbs twitching. Paralysis.

Rook and Scorch both sprang forward, the pawniard carving lines through the cobbled streets with his claws. Zoroark pulled herself onto her hindlegs, fury etched in her red-rimmed eyes; the sort of anger seen in dark types that allowed them to ignore the existence of pain. Scorch heard Ash's furious shouts and managed to adjust her course to sprint away, aided by four paws, but Rook had no chance.

He slammed directly into her left flank, chest blades stabbing immediately through her fur - but she wasn't Lycanroc. She was a biped, one with entirely enough flexibility and smarts to understand what he was doing. Rook screeched in apparent victory, blades glowing with brick break as he prepared to cut into her. Ash reached forward but he couldn't do anything.

Pitch black claws caught him on the underside of his helmet-like growth, ripped him off her side, and slammed him into the ground hard enough his left arm snapped.

There was a moment of silence, offset by Scorch's heavy panting, before Rook _shrieked._

Pawniards so rarely went into rages, when they had their bisharp to pin them down beneath bladed feet and crack axes with their own until they calmed. Ash had none of those qualities. He was too far away to even attempt to do anything.

Zoroark had little less than a second before Rook rocketed off the ground and flung himself at her.

Another flamethrower, a seemingly instinctual reaction, washed over him. The pawniard's eyes snapped shut and he lunged, trailing the shattered edge of his blade behind him. He swung his head and scored a narrow line down her torso even as she darted backward. Zoroark howled and tried to drop to all fours for speed but he was there, jabbing and hacking with the blind fury known to dark types, forcing her further back even as she scored careful attacks on his thrashing form. Rook hardly seemed to notice.

Scorch pried herself up from where she'd skidded over the ground in her attempt to dodge, still bleeding heavily from Zoroark's cuts, and launched a wall of fire. The dark type immediately stopped retreating, mane flaring, and Rook drew ever closer. Those same bright, bright eyes met Ash's.

A spiral of black covered her form and she was gone.

Rook screeched, momentum carrying him directly toward the fire, and flung his only working blade directly up.

Zoroark appeared in an explosion of smoke, Rook's blade stabbed directly into the bottom of her paw, stopping her halfway through her attempt to leap over his head. The fox shrieked as she fell, tearing the blade loose but landing hard on the paw. Pain made her eyes slits, even as paralysis clutched at her limbs and made her stumble.

Rook dragged himself up, blades soft and fuzzy around the edges despite Scorch's best attempts to dissolve the wall of fire as fast as she could. He screeched, berserk rage gone in the pain of the hit, but no less determined than before. His golden eyes seemed to glow.

Ash was suddenly reminded why Rook had bonded so well with Tide and Gale.

Zoroark turned to face them. The dark type glared with those burning eyes, bloody claws extending further. She snapped at him, crouching lower, mane swirling with excess trails of energy-

But electricity still crackled through her body, muscles tensing and sending odd jitters through her limbs, fur ripped and scarlet bleeding over the black of her left flank. She hadn't set down her injured paw. Her fangs clicked against each other as she made as if to lower herself back to all fours.

Rook screeched, slamming his blades together. The metal sound raced toward her, forcing Zoroark to pin her ears back, and she howled to drown it out. Scorch raised her tails and Ash put his hands on his belt, resting over the other pokemon he could still release. The night chimed silent between them.

Zoroark snarled again, the black smoke of her illusions trickling out the sides of her mouth, before dropping to all fours and sprinting away. Her scarlet mane disappeared into the turn of an alleyway and she was gone.

Ash blinked.

Rook screeched, but he didn't make a move to pursue. His golden eyes landed on the shattered blade of his left arm. It was snapped at the tip, held on by the titanium-esque bone that ran up the middle of every blade he had, but the fact was undeniable. It was definitely broken.

Ash knelt, glancing toward him to ask permission - the pawniard gave a morose nod and extended his arm. In the wild, losing a blade often meant death - without the full ability to defend oneself, they would be of little use to a pack.

"Nurse Joy can fix this up," he said, shifting his fingers carefully up the length of the blade. It was incredibly dull, on top of things. Rook had run them through far more punishment tonight than ever before. It was surprisingly easy to forget that he was Ash's newest pokemon, for how well his quiet personality had meshed with the others. "I'd give her two days and you'll never notice anything was wrong."

Rook stared at him, his section of Ash's mind rippling with life. Ash brought his hands up and formed that point that Rook had taught him, keeping his fingers straight. The pawniard made a soft sound and made the point back as best he could with half of his blade missing. His golden eyes were still blank.

"Thank you, Rook. You did fantastic."

The dark type did not protest at being recalled.

Scorch whined as he crossed to her, still limping. Blood was matted in her golden fur and pain was etched over her face, Zoroark's claws sharp and her experience at using them sharper. She made an attempt at a purr as he stroked behind her ears, disappearing into scarlet mist without so much as a sound. Exhaustion had left her dragging her tails behind her.

Ash sighed, dropping his head. He felt painfully exposed here, with his pokemon.

But he'd defeated Zoroark.

Not at her full strength, judging by her lack of moves and the fact she had run away instead of still fighting, but at least at the level that Gladion had allowed. And Lycanroc, Vikavolt, and Crobat were down too - each monsters in their own right. He put his hand over his pokeballs, feeling the spidery warmth from each - Gale and Rook's were almost completely cold - before turning fully to the gym.

Time to finish it.

The front door was close but Ash still ran toward it, very aware of the fact Golisopod could have heard the battle and started heading over. The doors creaked as he pushed against them but they weren't locked, and with a few moments of struggle Ash managed to get one open. His arms throbbed at the use, Vikavolt's paralysis having left its mark, and his knee struggled to keep up with the motion. He'd need to check in with Nurse Joy after getting his team seen to.

No one was in the entrance room and Ash could feel his hackles rise at the quiet, glancing around - light gleamed from the underside of a closed door. He stared around the room again - nothing but an empty desk and a single blue light overhead - before heading towards the light. It was his best chance beyond stumbling through the halls to try and make it to their original meeting place.

The door led to a sitting room, one lined with couches and blind-drawn windows. It was done in the same pale shades of blue as everywhere else in the gym. Ash blinked twice against the sudden wave of exhaustion and saw Surge, Gladion, and Sabrina, spread out through the room on various seats. All of them were looking at him.

But most importantly, Bulbasaur was curled up underneath the light of the room, crimson eyes closed. If she trusted them enough to sleep there, he could be pretty assured they were safe. Unless Gladion's fabled Kumu was actually four different zoroark disguising themself again to lure him into a false sense of security.

Ash snorted, walked to the nearest couch, and immediately collapsed.

Surge barked out with laughter, his raichu chittering just as loudly. He twisted his head to the side in order to glare at the boisterous man - why wasn't he _quiet_ \- before he saw Gladion with a single eyebrow raised. The man seemed a strange mixture of amused and confused.

Ash let his inner Gary take over. "Your zoroark is an asshole," he mumbled into the cushion.

Surge, if it was possible, laughed louder.

"I have heard that before," Gladion muttered, but there wasn't the roughness or rasp that Zoroark's attempt had had. "She very nearly had you."

Watching him through Sabrina or Alakazam, most likely. The pair of them were certainly powerful enough to escape Karma's notice. Ash nodded, still refusing to pull himself off the couch. "Is she going to be alright?"

Gladion waved his hand. "Both her and Crobat have gone to Nurse Joy, who was briefed on this event. Alakazam brought her Lycanroc and Vikavolt as well, and Golisopod is returning to the gym as we speak."

Sabrina, by his side, nodded. Her eyes were bright but her face looked worn - psychics didn't like the night, which ran rampant with the other side of the Trio pokemon and weakened their own power. Ash felt a small pocket of warmth grow at the thought she had stayed up to watch him.

"My team was holding themselves back, but you fared rather well against them." Gladion ran his fingers over his own pokeballs, nodding his head. His voice was back to the same formal, memorized tone - how long had he spent practicing this speech? "I am impressed."

Surge snorted. "You kicked his team's asses and he didn't see it coming."

Ash did raise his head at that, forcing himself into a mockery of a sitting position. The couch - a pale blue, to match the rest of Saffron City gym's decorations - was surprisingly comfortable. He shifted his aching knee to take some more of the pressure off it - adrenaline was a hell of a drug, he hadn't even realized how much it hurt until he finally stopped moving - and looked back to his audience. He could feel a grin over his face at Surge's words. To be honest, there had been the niggling fear in the back of his own mind that his team wouldn't be able to win against such an experienced opponent, but they had all pulled through.

Gladion sighed, brushing a hand through his hair. "You did very well, yes. Especially that technique against Vikavolt - was it your idea?"

Ash perked up. "No, just Rhydon. I'm thinking we could expand it into a full area of effect attack, and if I can snag a TM for sandstorm, we could develop it to the point where he can use that to gather the materials for him and then he just attacks the other pokemon without even taking a step. And if I combine it with crater, he could just go underground and wait for them to knock themselves out trying to stop it."

Surge grinned. "And if that's what you come up while on the run for your life, I'd like to see what the hell you can make with some actual planning time."

Raichu snickered, sparks popping lazily from his cheeks.

"Well." Gladion sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, but there was the ghost of a smile over his face. "But yes, you did well. Your team should be healed within a few days, enough for you to travel to Cerulean."

Ash frowned - he'd been planning on heading to either Celadon, to rechallenge Erika, or to Lavender, to explore that area. Cerulean was interesting and all, but he'd start back down that route when he was ready to challenge Giovanni. "Cerulean?"

Sabrina's power fluttered on the edge of his awareness. "Open the package." The psychic's tone was ripe with amusement - she seemed to be enjoying this far more than even the mirthful Surge.

Ash blinked, reaching down for the bag - he felt suddenly suspicious, seeing Surge's ever-widening grin - but pulled it off his belt. The string took a few moments to undo with his cracked nails but he managed, working it off and setting it to the side. The whole bag couldn't have weighed more than a feather.

He glanced up again, more to confirm his action, and Gladion nodded at him. He reached it and found paper, rooting around for another second, but it was the only thing in there. He pulled it out, seeing a single sheet folded over.

Unfolding it found an official League document, as declared by the seal in the upper left corner. He frowned, starting to read through it, when the bolded words on top leapt out at him.

 _Carry Limit Test Approval._

His name was there as well, and beneath it were three signatures, two illegible. The third, in neat, twisting penmanship, was Sabrina's name. It wasn't too terribly difficult to guess who the others were.

Ash stared.

Surge shrugged, still grinning. "We got together and signed it after the first week of training. It was pretty clear you were pouring your damn soul into the thing."

"Oh." Ash stared back at the paper - it was like he couldn't understand the words in front of him. "Carry limit?"

Gladion nodded. "Your six pokemon limit - or seven, in your case. Certains trainers, if three League officials declare them worthy and in need of it, are allowed to take a test given by an impartial third party to see whether they can handle more pokemon. I know you look down on yourself for neglecting your sealeo and haven't caught any other pokemon, though your team still lacks proper coverage of styles and types." He shrugged. "So, the test."

Ash ran his fingers over the three signatures on the paper. They had thought him strong and able enough to handle more pokemon. Okay. The paper blurred somewhat in his hands as he reread it.

"Happy birthday, runt."

Ash blinked. Oh, right - it _was_ his birthday today. He was eleven now - in the panic and worry over the test, it'd been easy to forget. Staring down at the little slip of confirmation, he felt a little bubble of warmth grow through his chest, as strong as Scorch's own internal fire.

Surge grunted, and there was an odd, amused tone in his voice. "Don't you fucking dare start crying. It's a gift. You've gotten one before, haven't you?"

Ash couldn't fight back a grin at that, because Surge was always that same shade of gruff and confrontational and wicked, and even though he expected it the man always seemed to be able to surprise him. Sabrina sighed mentally, the sound echoing in the back of Ash's mind, and his grin grew wider.

"Wait, how did you know it was my birthday?"

Raichu leapt backward to stand on the couch as Surge straightened, chest puffing out. "Gladion 'ere used his incredible powers, harnessing Kumu's skill in order to figure out when the mythical date could-"

Gladion cut in, glaring at the larger man. Surge seemed less than threatened. "Your Trainer ID."

"Are you saying you didn't have the kid's info memorized the fucking _second_ you told me you wanted to train him?"

And Ash laughed, whether from a mixture of the stress of the night or the ridiculousness of the situation or the pained look in Sabrina's eyes as she watched them bicker, and he couldn't find it within himself to stop.

xXx

 **Hello all!**

 **Sorry for the late update, but as I'm sure you can guess, things are a little hectic right now. And luckily for me, I had the wonderful time of switching my major right before being moved online, so that was a period of fun.**

 **But now I should have plenty of time to crank out a few more chapters! My goal is to get another one out within a month, and then I'll basically try to get back to an actual rhythm.**

 **So here was the action-based chapter, and the next two should focus more on plot and world development. It's finally time to start bringing back all the things I've dropped hints on - Goodshow, Viper, Eyes of Bone, Peacemakers, Malva, Delia, etc - and I'm raring to get them all out!**

 **Fair warning - I've been working a ton on my original works, so my style seems to have changed a bit. I'll try to keep it similar but expect some new subtleties.**

 **Hope everyone stays safe and healthy, and thanks for reading!**


	16. Festivities

It felt like years since Ash had last traveled.

Route 5 welcomed him with extended arms of maples and oaks, still tightly holding onto their crowns of leaves even as winter approached faster and faster. Grass stretched hesitant runners over the path, trampled flat by endless feet, the last few hardy wildflowers sprawling next to the brush. Dew - there had been light rain yesterday - made green glitter gold in the sunlight. It wasn't a long route - a week and some change at most - but Ash was going to savor every day.

That wasn't to say it also didn't suck to get back to traveling. Six months had done him a world of good but there was a reason trainers had to keep moving or else risk settling down forever - his muscles had grown lax in the two weeks of sitting on a bench and watching his team. He had also bought new boots from Saffron's high-quality market, monstrous things he hoped would get him through Kanto's winter, mild as it was; breaking them in after two weeks of practically no movement would be less than fun.

But there was sun here, and green, and trees and sounds and earth, and Ash felt remarkably light looking forward.

Every route connected to Saffron was swamped by massive forests, and Route 5 was no different. The League plowed through the woods every few months to clear out the roots determined to choke the path and branches shadowing it overhead, but every time Ash so much as twitched his head in a direction other than straight ahead all he could see were trees, endless numbers in species he had no hope to recognize. There was life, too - rattata tails that appeared for mere seconds through the underbrush, the chirps of pidgey flocks that swarmed overhead, coins abandoned by meowth after they'd grown out of that size.

Ash, only halfway through his first day, wondered idly if he'd eventually become one of those Masters that never left the woods. With this strong of a reaction after a mere two weeks in-city, he wasn't putting the offer completely off the table.

Things in Saffron had taken surprisingly little time to wrap up fully. Gladion had sent him a digital copy of the confirmation letter on his pokedex - _in case you manage to lose this single piece of paper_ \- and promptly fled back to the dark of the gym. He guessed Gladion had felt rather out of his depth with the thanks Ash had been throwing down, which was entirely his fault, but it wasn't like he _wasn't_ going to thank the man that had trained him for the past two weeks.

Sabrina had accepted it much better, tilting her head, and he had felt her awareness flutter on the edge of his senses. Erika's words had risen to the forefront of his mind, for some reason, the little warning she had given him about the psychic Master. Sabrina had seemed a bit confused about that but merely turned back to him, eyes bright, and said she would be returning to her investigation of Silph Co and that he had done well. Her praise made his chest warm.

Surge had all but steered him to the healing center of the gym, letting him give the hypno there his pokemon. Then it had evolved into a conversation about Tide, which. Well.

Ash was less than pleased with what he had done over the past two weeks. The sealeo had been neglected for no good reason other than the fact he didn't have the ability of being able to maneuver well on dry land, at least not until he gained the extra pair of limbs evolution would bring. Two weeks of sitting back at a cushy lab while his team had been put through the grindstone.

Surge had told it was for the best - _patchwork training is worse than no training at all_ \- but that hadn't exactly cleaned Ash of his guilt. Cerulean would be a place for training Tide. He deserved it.

That being said, Route 5 had ample opportunities to push Tide.

While the majority of it was forest, one of the largest concentrations of pure deciduous forest in Kanto, there was also a landmark that ran only half a mile or so parallel to the route itself.

The Kiyome River was well-known but not well-traveled - it was strong and fast, armed with rapids to aid its speed and unhampered by a general lack of pokemon. Meowth were the most common pokemon on Route 5, dozens of fully-fledged packs, and their claws were perfect for river hunting. Any pokemon that had once lived in the river - most likely magikarp and poliwag, judging by where it flowed from and to - had long-since moved on or else risk extinction. So the Kiyome raced unbidden, too fast for swimming or most training.

But even though it wasn't on the main path, or truly anywhere even close, other curious trainers had explored and found that there were frequent bends in the river, ones which pooled a massive amount of water in an extremity almost resembling a pond. The current of the river was normally only present in the back half, keeping the flow up, but it was, for the most part, smooth water large enough to handle most pokemon. The perfect training ground.

The hard part, of course, was finding them.

He didn't have Gale with him - the fearow had been sent back to Professor Oak for his stunt with Crobat, and while he had been miffed, he understood what he had done. The avian had seemed - almost - sorry as he had been sent away. Gale loved to battle, but he could realize when he had messed up. Ash had given him some halfhearted advice to try and combine agility with flurry, but he more wanted the fearow to sit around and do some soul searching. Once he got his carry limit removed, he'd be able to really talk with him to see what was going on. He had his suspicions - Gary's pidgeot being chief among them - but it was up to Gale to face them.

Ash glanced back down at his pokedex, gauging again roughly the distance he'd have to travel to find the first bend. He was probably roughly at the spot where the river ran closest to the route - it wasn't considered important enough for actual landmarks on the map, but plenty of other trainers on forums had found the location and shared - but it was hard to tell. He stared at the mass of trees in front of them, the underbrush that looked thick enough to swallow him whole, and grabbed for a pokeball. He'd wanted his team to rest until training that night, but it seemed he needed one anyone.

Rook screeched as he was realized, golden eyes immediately snapping down to his blades. He was silent as he took them in. Ash knelt to be more on his level, slipping his pokedex back onto his belt. The pawniard blinked, extending his fully-repaired arm, and stared up at Ash.

"Nurse Joy fixed it up," he offered, pointing roughly to the blade. She had _also_ sharpened them just enough where Rook wouldn't have to spend a week getting them back to his preferred level of sharp, but he wouldn't be mentioning that. "You're as good as new."

Rook's bone that ran down the middle of the blade hadn't been broken, but the steel had, and it took an impressively hot fire to mold the thing back into place. Nurse Joy had given him a tightly controlled lecture about taking better care of his pawniard when she had finished, and Ash would bet gold Gladion had gotten the same thing about controlling his team better.

The dark type screeched again, waving his arm around. It moved just as fluidly as its pair, and he seemed entirely pleased to have his weapons returned. Ash dodged a tap to his thigh before standing, pointing at the forest. Rook turned to follow his finger.

"We're going to be going through there. Do you mind helping me cut through the brush?"

Rook gave one glance at the collection of wide-leaved ferns before immediately sprinting forward. His blades cleaved a narrow path in an instant and then he was pushing forward, black coloration quickly swallowed by the shadows of the forest. Ash chuckled and trotted to catch up.

That morning, after a week of trying, he'd finally been able to reach his mother. She had seemed exhausted, weary bags under her eyes and skin paler than normal, but her cheer was no less diminished from the last time he had seen her. She gushed about the Shamouti Islands, talking about the ocean and the flowers and the people, and Ash had asked her enough questions he guessed he could probably give a tour. Then she had swamped him with excitement about his birthday and sent over a small present, promising something larger once she had slept for several days after the exhaustion of traveling. Ash reached up and touched the pin on the side of his hat - it was small, cut in the shape of the main Shamouti Island, but an iridescent blue that seemed to glow with every single color depending on the way he looked at it.

It was only by the time they'd finished their conversation that he'd remembered Cascade, but he figured it could wait. She was his mother.

Rook screeched against a particularly stubborn sapling that refused to go down and Ash gently directed him around it, pulling up his map once again. According to the most popular forum, the banks of the river were surprisingly clear of forest, and he could follow it up for nearly a week before needing to get back on the route to actually make it to Cerulean. In the distance, he could hear running water. Sidestepping another bunch of brambles, he kicked his pace up another notch to keep up with Rook, who was moving faster.

Less than ten minutes from when they'd started, Ash ducked under a final low-grown branch and emerged into open air.

Describing the Kiyome as fast moving didn't do it enough justice - the brilliant blue raced through the cut in the ground, even the smallest of rocks kicking up sprays of mist. Ash padded forward, feeling the earth waver beneath his feet - mostly mud, judging by how much water the river lost with every second. It snapped on by, the riverbed deep enough from its punishing pace Ash would have to seriously worry if he fell in.

Maybe the pokemon that had once lived here hadn't just been chased away by meowth hunters.

Rook was screeching mistrustingly toward the water and Ash did his best to corral the dark type away from the edge, his blades already slick with mist. It didn't help that Kanto had finally gotten its act together and started cooling down, and being so close to such a tumultuous river had dropped the temperature at least five degrees. Ash tucked his arms tighter to his sides.

They'd just have to walk up the side for a few hours until finding the first bend, and this would be an excellent place to get a good supply of water. Rook came to his side when he prodded the scar in his mind, golden eyes bright. "C'mon, bud. Let's go."

Rook screeched and immediately trotted alongside behind him, scraping his blades together every now and then. The river provided endless background noise and the woods were still beautiful, even more so when not tamed by the League. He'd missed this, in Saffron City.

"You did really well, Rook," Ash said, glancing down at the pawniard. "Against Zoroark. We couldn't have won that without you."

He could feel the dark type's presence in his mind brighten.

xXx

By the time they stumbled across the first bend, Ash was tired, cold, and wishing he had decided to just stay on the route until time to train. It was incredible how fast traveling lost its overwhelming appeal when it wasn't just simple walks on a warm path surrounded by beautiful woods.

His feet hurt.

But the bend was incredible in its own way, different from the power the Kiyome exuded on its regular stretches. The way they were formed was simple - the river had originally been a narrow, twisting line over Kanto, but as its current increased and it began to carry more water, it had simply cut straight through where a bend had been. Thus, the river continued right on, while its bend was left much calmer as it filled in.

A massive, stretching expanse of blue carried across, bare little ripples moving over its surfacing only a few feet away from the rapids of the main part of the river. Ash felt comfortable enough getting close, staring into the depths - the water was dark enough he couldn't see anything beyond the shadowed silhouettes of rocks and earth near the shore.

Rook screeched again, poking at the riverbed. It stayed surprisingly well under the assault, probably mostly made of clay. Ash walked the perimeter of the bend and, while the forest pressed much closer here than on any place before, there was still plenty of room for his team to train if they spread out. It wasn't their normal time to start, a little earlier than before, but Ash was fine with taking it slow today and spreading out over more time.

He also really wanted Scorch out to combat the chill from the river.

His team appeared in flashes of red, Ash aiming as best he could to keep them a few feet apart. There wasn't much open space - even with Rook gleefully hacking through the base of every plant he could find, the brambles were bad.

Rhydon rumbled, shrugging back his massive shoulders as he looked around. His eyes narrowed as he saw the water, horn crackling with a few excess sparks. Scorch looked similarly annoyed.

Wraith disappeared into the shadows of the forest almost immediately, a pair of bloody red eyes the only part visible, and Karma carefully twitched a bit farther away. The ghost's aura had strengthened recently, which was the only sign Ash could look for in accordance to evolution, but he was trying not to get his hopes too high. Ghosts took incredibly long to evolve.

Bulbasaur snarled at him - miffed she had been kept in her pokeball, even though he had explained it to her - but padded over to Wraith and laid down in a particularly bright sunbeam. She ignored it when he tapped her head with the knuckle of one jagged claw, which was progress.

Ash held onto his last pokeball, grimacing, before clicking the release.

Tide formed with a deep bark - a _much_ deeper bark than Ash remembered, really - and slammed his flippers against the ground. Pale blue fur, cream underbelly, white whiskers, dark brown eyes. He stared around at his teammates for a moment before his gaze landed on Ash.

He immediately flung himself forward and bumped his head against Ash's thigh, breath bringing ducklettflesh over his entire body. Ash leaned down and hugged the ice type as best he could, wrapping his arms around his neck. "I'm sorry, bud. But you're back now. You won't ever have to leave again."

Tide's resounding bark had a note of quiet in it Ash never wanted to hear again.

He straightened back up, keeping one hand splayed over Tide's head. The sealeo leaned into the contact. "We'll be doing some move training until we reach Cerulean, but we'll be keeping it light after everything." He could feel a barely-hidden note of relief from Karma's colors. "I'll give everyone some ideas for tonight but I'll be working with Tide for the next few days, so just do the best you can."

Tide barked and slid back as Ash went around to assign jobs, whiskers twitching curiously as he examined the river. Every teammate came up to him, speaking in their native tongue, and Ash smiled at the gesture. Even though the sealeo could easily get on their nerves with his die-hard battling personality, he was part of their team.

Scorch's pokeball burned a myriad of greens as it spun, the TM importing all needed information into her mind. She wouldn't be able to practice it much tonight, with the setting sun, but just getting a feel for the new type of energy now within her would be much needed. When he released her, she churred curiously, flexing her tails with an odd look in her eyes. Solar beam would be the edge she needed to win her fights now.

Wraith looked fascinated by the concept of curse - putting a part of his essence within his opponent and attacking them from the inside was exactly his style of battle. It would be easier when he evolved into a gengar, able to dissolve himself with the incredibly difficult tactic known as miasma, but for now his hands would suffice. He immediately disappeared back into the shadows of the forest.

Karma took more time. Ash had been fascinated by how her battle with Sabrina had gone in person instead of just concept, forcing that connection between her and Alakazam, and though her colors had twinged green with concern she seemed just as excited at the idea of something he was tentatively calling melding. If she could reach out and influence her opponent's mind with her own powers, a battle would be as good as over. Signal beam was also added to the mix, though to a lesser extent.

Rook was his usual self when Ash told him the basics of iron head, though he did see a flicker in his golden eyes at the combos of attach and fury claw. Attach was relatively simple - combine a charge with a thunder wave to raise the chance of a successful attach - but fury claw was difficult. Bug and dark type energy couldn't be combined, as they repelled each other, but Rook could eventually learn to have one of his blades be fury cutter and the other be night slash, for an array of attacks that would overwhelm his opponent. There was a method behind it - multiple energies in an attack would tear through an opponent's armor faster - but Ash also wanted him to try and pick up more of a strategic battling style, beyond that of just running and stabbing. The pawniard cheerfully sprinted off to immediately begin.

Rhydon was getting something different.

True, Ash wanted him to work on the dome structure of widespread, perfecting moving it fast enough to leave himself openings for attacking but leaving his opponent unable to, but after six months it was finally time. Surge's words had struck a chord and Ash knew Rhydon had been unbelievably patient so far, but now they were finally ready.

Earthquake was incredibly dangerous, the most powerful ground type move in existence. Rhydon couldn't just start throwing it around with no consequences - but once he learned it, the move would be utterly devastating. They were starting slow, simply transferring earth power down instead of up and keeping the energy contained, but it was a start.

Rhydon's eyes burned pure red as Ash told him.

Karma carefully levitated the ground type across the river to the other side of the bend, shines melting from the effort, but Ash wanted him as far away from the team when he started training it. Rhydon nodded at him, a mere grey splotch from that far away, and went deeper into the forest to avoid collapsing the river. Earthquake.

Tide barked, slapping his tail against the ground as Ash turned to him.

Two weeks had done… a world of difference, honestly. Pulling up every memory in his mind of the sealeo didn't have him being this _large_ \- he seemed to have gained maybe thirty pounds since the last time Ash had seen him, his whiskers growing another branch outward to nearly cover his entire face. His two fangs, normally only barely visible past his mouth, glittered in the light.

Ash was a little more than cautiously hopeful but he shook it off. No reason to try and convince Tide of something when he just needed to work with his friend.

"I do have some good news," He said, tapping his fingers along his thigh. "We're going to Cerulean City, which is all about water types, and we're going to take a test there from the Sisters. When - if," he amended, "-we win, I'll be allowed to have as many pokemon with me as I can handle. That means I won't have to send anyone back again."

Tide's eyes lit up, brown depths shining. He barked again, the sound nearly concussive, and slammed his tail hard enough into the ground to indent it. Excited. The same thrill that had filled him when Ash had first seen him at Vermillion. A grin slashed over his face.

"Then let's see what you can do, so we can win this."

The sealeo howled.

Ash's grin widened as he thought, mind pulling up all the strategies he had thought about for Tide. "I asked you to work on aqua ring, right?" The ice type nodded. "And… making ice floes. Alright. Show me what you've got."

Tide immediately turned tail and flung himself into the river bend, slick fur slightly too dark to fully blend in. He was a deep sea pokemon, glacier subsect - rivers weren't meant for him. But it would be enough for now. Ash saw his blurry form circle a few times, stretching muscles being in a pokeball kept tightly wound and exploring the space he had to work with. It was always fascinating to watch Tide swim. When he was on land he was irrevocably clumsy, forced to use powder snow just to travel around, but in the water his massive tail and flippers could finally be put to work. He zipped around the mostly shallow space for a minute before rising back to the surface, whiskers twitching. He simply seemed to stare at Ash before, abruptly, the water began to _move._

It was slow at first - a simple few inches sliding closer and making it look like he was going back under, but before long the water arced up in graceful streams, wrapping around his body. Loops and rings circled him, pulled constantly closer, leaving him a vague murky figure beyond the blue. He swam higher, the water following him, making it look like the river had developed a hump in the middle. His tail was the only part of him below the regular water's surface.

Ash whistled.

Aqua ring was a defensive move, allowing the pokemon not to manipulate water but merely summon it as a secondary layer of protection. Tide had picked it up significantly faster and to a higher level of control than Ash would have thought - did Professor Oak's gyarados know it? That might have helped. He whistled as sharply as he could, waving an arm around, and it still took Tide nearly a minute to understand the command past the water and let aqua ring disperse. The water immediately dropped back down, little waves rippling away from his body. Tide barked and swam back toward the surface, getting his flippers up on land with his tail still hanging in.

"That was incredible - how did you learn it so fast?"

The sealeo barked again, whiskers twitching.

"I'm going to team you up with Professor Oak's gyarados more often," Ash teased, getting closer. "That worked really well." Tide snorted. "Show me an ice floe."

Tide's brown eyes gleamed at that, throat already beginning to glow a pale white. Ash scrambled back away from the riverbank as the temperature plummeted a few more degrees. Tide kicked off the shore and faced the center of the bend, energy crackling between his whiskers. In a second, he had primed and spat an ice beam toward the water.

It froze immediately. A massive spread of ice was born, jagged and pure white, and Tide was hardly finished. He launched two more, circling the ice to get all sides, and in less than a minute he had an ice floe that took nearly a third of the entire river bend. Tide ducked underwater for a boost and managed to fling himself on, barking cheerfully on top of his creation.

Ash blinked. It was impressive - there was a reason that the spheal line had ice first in their typing, instead of water - and clearly a stable platform. If there had been more water available, Ash guessed he could have made it thicker - even with just Tide's weight, it was dipping a few inches below the surface of the bend - but the sheer usefulness of a sheet of ice in a water field was impossible to ignore. He strafed around the bend, trying to gauge how thick it was. Maybe two feet, around twenty feet across, and that was from three short-charged ice beams.

He was suddenly reminded of blizzard's existence and felt his excitement kick up a notch.

"That's fantastic!" He shouted across, Tide perking up from his ice floe. "How big can you make it with only one ice beam?"

Tide cocked his head to the side, throat glowing that same pale white. He spat another toward a relatively clear stretch of water. Ice crackled outward, spreading immediately, and it ended up at about seven feet across. The temperature steadily dropped. Ash stared at it, mind whirling. Tide could create large enough platforms, like the ones in the Cerulean gym, to let him both fight and retreat with ease. For other water types, he'd have to rely on underwater picking and creating walls of ice to block their path, but this would give him the edge he-

Ash paused.

He moved closer, toes right over the edge of the riverbank. "Tide, can you get back in the water?"

The sealeo barked and slipped back into the river, making the ice floe bob without his weight. It floated there, surrounded by water. Made of water. Tide swam closer to him, head raised above the surface. "Now use aqua ring, but try to pull the water around the ice floe. Or the water inside it."

Tide twitched his whiskers but didn't say anything, spinning back around to stare at the largest ice floe. The water rippled in front of him, a pale glow coming from his eyes, and-

Ever so slowly, the massive chunk of ice started to drift toward him. The water on its edges frothed, splashing against the ice in an effort to push it, but it was moving. Tide kept up the aqua ring, slowly becoming more and more covered in water as it bubbled around him, until the edge of the ice floe bumped his side. He dropped it and turned back toward Ash, a questioning bark filling the air.

Ash was grinning, thoughts racing. He trotted around the bend to stand in front of a relatively clear spot, Tide swimming to match him. "Okay. Now I want you to grab the smaller ice floe, and pull as hard as you can. Don't worry about anything else."

Tide - with a small shade of concern in his eyes - swam back out, staring at the much smaller ice floe. A ripple of water raced out as he activated aqua ring, using all of his control to centralize it on that one pocket of water.

The floe _erupted._

The sealeo disappeared under the surface an instant before the ice would have hit his head, deactivating aqua ring - momentum carried the floe to explode against the riverbed, ice shattering like glass and forcing Ash to quickly backtrack lest get hit. A moment passed of every single teammate staring incredulously at the water as Tide poked his head back up, eyes wide.

Ash's face hurt from how wide he was grinning. Tide couldn't just start chucking ice floes at his opponents but he was ridiculously fast in the water - if he could get behind them and pull hard enough before swimming away, the momentum would do the rest. Maybe he could even do it underwater, creating walls of ice and pulling them around to devastate his opponents from every angle.

"Oh yeah. We can work with this."

Tide barked.

xXx

Ash dutifully walked around the edge of the river bend, kicking littered chunks of ice back into the water so they wouldn't oversaturate the ground when they melted. Combining the aqua ring and ice beam combo - he needed a name for it - with body slam was an efficient, if horribly messy, tactic.

Scorch breathed a few tongues of flame over the river, heating it back to the temperature it had been before multiple massive ice floes dominated its surface. Tide was still happily swimming around in it, occasionally appearing to spit weak water guns at the ninetales, but he never fully challenged her. From how Scorch's eyes glowed with extrasensory as she heated up the water, she wasn't aiming at nothing either.

The rest of his pokemon lazed around the hole Rhydon was eating out of, ready for a fire before they went to bed. It hadn't been a terribly difficult training day, especially after Gladion's two weeks of distortion, but they enjoyed the feeling of doing nothing. Even Bulbasaur had found a spot around the soon-to-be fire, though she normally avoided it like the plague. Wraith would call her back every few minutes to inspect a new plant, though she didn't seem to mind.

It was weird without Gale being there, no enormous wingspan to provide shade or black eyes leering down from a strong enough perch. Ash really needed to pass the carry limit test. He couldn't deal with constantly giving some of his team up.

Scorch finally gave up trying to hit Tide and trotted back to the group, curling up in the hole Rhydon had provided and activating flash fire. Warm yellow light danced through the clearing, throwing ripples over the river bend.

Ash finished kicking the ice in and headed for the fire, pulling off his gloves and unwrapping the shirt he had used as a makeshift scarf from around his neck. He hoped Cerulean had decent winter supplies - Saffron's deceptive city heat had tricked him into not buying everything yet. It didn't help that he was training an ice type, either.

Bulbasaur snarled as the weedy flower she had been inspecting stabbed her with a hidden thorn, narrowing her eyes and walking away. Wraith chucked the plant as far into the forest as he could before drifting back over to the fire, spines rounded and much softer than normal. He actually had a semi-realistic amount of fangs in his mouth, now.

Rook was sitting with his back against a heavily-scored tree, multiple whetstones stacked around them. It wasn't like he could pick them up so instead, he used his clawed feet to secure them in place before running his blades over, testing the edge with every few swipes on his helmet. That explained, at least, the numerous scratches that littered over his armor, though Ash doubted he could convince the pawniard to check the sharpness somewhere that didn't actively injure him.

Karma used a burst of gravity and dropped a bucket load of leaves on Ash's shoulders from the tree above him, colors bright - he snorted and flicked droplets of water at her. She had perked immensely back up after training with Sabrina, coming back into the mischievous personality he knew she had. Too much intensive training was a problem for psychic types, as they tended to lose emotions in sight of power, but she seemed to have bounced back remarkably quickly. He was trying to keep her workload light for the next few days - melding was a relatively simple concept to learn, though not execute, and she could get a feel for bug energy through Rook instead of struggling on her own. He could still remember the blank eyes of Professor Oak's own alakazam.

Rhydon rumbled, stretching out his arms, and fell like a tree to the ground. Bulbasaur snarled as the earth shook beneath his bulk. He still couldn't lay down very easily, no easy breaks in the armor around his knees to let him bend down, but once on the ground he was fine. Rhydon rolled to be flat on his stomach, tail curling against his side, and almost immediately went to sleep.

Ash laughed, patting his starter on the head - while Rhydon hadn't mentioned much about that day's training, the ground had been trembling from even across the river.

Scorch lazily ate the stick he offered, flames growing temporarily brighter. Ash continued to feed her as the rest of his team fell asleep, even Rook curling up against his tree. Her flash fire trickled down to mere embers as she finally passed out, the ground charred around her. He patted Rhydon behind the horn once more, pulled up his blanket, and fell asleep surrounded by his team.

xXx

He woke up and orange burned - fire, close. His chest ached. Ash swiped a hand in front of him - nothing but heat, cage, steel-

Cold, beneath him. He squeezed his eyes shut, drowning out Charizard. Fingernails pressed into his forehead. He hadn't dreamt about that in ages, since back at Tohjo Falls. Why now?

Ash opened his eyes warily. It was just Scorch, curled in the firepit, tails over her muzzle and embers popping lazily against her fur. He forced himself to stare at them as if they'd make his dream go away. It didn't.

Grabbing the edge of his blanket, he inched around the firepit, heading towards the huddled mass next to him. Rhydon had shifted in his sleep, half on his side, and Ash wormed himself into the crack between his tail and chest. His stone-keratin was cool to the touch, smooth. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on anything else.

xXx

Cerulean City had a lot more… people traveling to it.

Ash had gone back to Route 5 one week after leaving it, given as the Kiyome took a sharp turn towards the wilderness at that point, and after a truly enjoyable time hacking his way through the underbrush via Rook, he had managed to find his way back to a League-built path.

Only to find people.

The majority of them weren't even trainers, just regular people walking in what he guessed were family groups. Normally at least one person in the party had a pokeball, very needed any time you left the protection of a city, but they never so much as glanced at his own team, let alone challenged him.

After the seventh group of people, half of which had multiple young children, Bulbasaur had all but demanded to be recalled. As one of the fantastically rare Kanto starters, people couldn't help but stare at her, kids tugging on their parents' arms to try and let them pet her. The parents, wisely, saw Bulbasaur's furious crimson eyes and walked on.

Wraith stayed out, fully dissolved into Ash's shadow, and Rhydon lumbered beside him. Scorch had exhausted herself yesterday trying to create other pokemon with her fire illusions - slow progress - and neither Tide nor Karma exactly enjoyed traveling. Rook trotted away on the other side of Rhydon, occasionally hacking at any branch he deemed too long.

But there were so many people.

Ash didn't dare ask for a battle when he couldn't tell the levels of experience any longer, everyone dressed up to a surprising amount of grandeur, but he had no idea what was going on and didn't feel comfortable enough to ask. All League routes were safe enough to travel and it wasn't like people were landlocked in whatever city they were born in, but so rarely did people travel in these numbers. He would have felt a lot more suspicious if not for how happy so many people seemed to be.

It finally clicked when he arrived in Cerulean.

The city was dressed like it had somewhere to be - even on the outskirts, massive streamers of pure white were strung between houses. None of them were the same, each looking to be stitched together of every fabric imaginable. Ash felt Wraith's thoughts stir with interest.

It made sense, now. The Welcoming Day of the First - the annual holiday to welcome winter, mild as it was in Kanto. He checked his pokedex quickly. He'd missed the first day, which had been yesterday, but the festival was always a three-day celebration.

He wondered idly why they weren't called the Welcoming Days.

People were taking down constructions of branches and boards modeled to look like snowflakes, hung with even more white pieces of cloth. Ash passed a house decked out in glowing white lights, all shaped into another snowflake. Some of them were nearly half the size of the house itself.

Each Welcoming holiday took part over three days, celebrating a different aspect of the theme. The First was for winter, which was all about snow, ice, and blizzards. Today was the celebration of ice.

Something crunched beneath his feet. He glanced down in time to see a psychic burst of power pull away strips of white paper from the bottom of his boots - Wraith hissed - and send them flying toward one side of the road. A bored-looking golduck was twitching its claws, gem glowing, and removing mounds upon mounds of white confetti Ash hadn't even noticed. It didn't seem to care about the massive amount of psychic energy it was pouring out. A cheerful growlithe sat beside it, burning all of the confetti brought before it.

Ash laughed. Arceus, he loved pokemon.

Cerulean City had new life breathed into it by the festival - all businesses were closed for those three days, schools let out, and there hardly seemed to be anyone not out on the streets. Clumps of families gathered, working together to put up or make new decorations for tonight's celebration - all pale blue. He wondered what blizzard's color theme was.

This was nothing like in Pallet Town. Every Welcoming day holiday, he and his mother had gone to the center square and given their offering, alongside a pile of the others from everyone else. For the First, it was simple - a collection of branches tied together to make a snowflake shape and frozen. The next morning, they would all be gone. Ash remembered being devastated to learn that it was Professor Oak cleaning them up instead of an actual Legend taking away their offerings. But that was it. A prayer said every night, and then on the third day, a simple pile of branches and ice.

Cerulean City exploded with action.

Ash was reminded quite easily of Celadon as he struggled his way toward the Pokemon Center - even it had a massive swath of cloth draped over the roof - in order to grab a bite to eat before going to the gym. There was no chance he was waiting for later in the day in case the Sisters were preoccupied with the festival instead of his test.

Nurse Joy wasn't there, the counter manned by a worn looking replacement, and Ash shuffled his way past loudly-talking trainers towards the back of the room. Lunch was still going on, barely, and he managed to snag a decent looking sandwich and retreat. The woman behind the counter gave him a key - top floor, wonderful - and he fled upstairs to drop his stuff off. Far too many people.

The room was nice enough, by anyone's standards, but rivers were far from comfortable to sleep by and the mattress looked heavenly. Ash dug through his bag, reaching into his secure pocket, and pulled out the slip of paper. Smoothing over a crease in the top corner, he read it over again. Confirmation he was able to take the test.

He exhaled once, ran his fingers over his pokeballs, and left his room.

Wraith had to latch tight to his shadow as they moved, hissing furiously with every step over his face or spines, and the crowd was even thicker around the gym. Ash could see numerous stalls lining the streets, hasty constructions of wood painted every shade of white and blue. People bustled behind them, setting up for that night. He hoped he was finished with his test by the time the festival started - it certainly looked interesting.

Ash grimaced as someone's elbow attempted to dislodge his kidneys and pushed harder through the crowd, ducking under arms and waving limbs. Being eleven helped in some cases. The paper was in his pocket and he kept one hand over it at all times, though it threw his balance off.

By the time he was finally at the doors, he could see two guards on either side, arms crossed and expressions dark. He thought he recognized one as the receptionist from last time and headed toward her, the crowd seemingly milling directly in front of the gym. Maybe the Sisters put on a show for the festival?

The woman stared at him, unimpressed. "No gym challenges during the festival."

"I know," he said, making a movement to reach into his pocket before thinking better of it. "I have a test scheduled with the Sisters. For Ash Ketchum."

She opened her mouth before stopping, turning to her partner. They whispered something before her partner stepped out, waving back the ground. Ash sidestepped him just as the woman opened the door a crack, quickly waving him forward. "Good luck," she said, shutting the door just as quickly behind him.

Ash exhaled - wow, he hated crowds - and looked around. The entrance room had changed somewhat, the tiny garden that had been outside being brought in. His eyes widened at one particular plant, pushed toward the back in a grey pot - were those _planted_ leech seeds? The long vines blooming up from the dirt certainly seemed to suggest so.

The counter was empty and so he wandered forward, trying to remember what he had done the last time he had been here. Chlorine filled his nose. There was a door towards the back, one that probably led to the pool. Ash shrugged and headed towards, fingers still splayed over the confirmation letter. He could hear water splashing on the other side. The door wasn't locked, opening easily.

The Sisters were all there, sitting together by the edge of the pool with their legs hanging in the water. Whatever conversation they were having shut off the second he entered, immediately turning toward him - then Daisy's eyes lit up and she jumped to her feet, a wide grin splitting her face. "Ash!"

He blinked - he hadn't exactly expected them to remember him - before nodding. The other Sisters stood up as well, shaking off water from their legs and walking toward him. Daisy was at the front, still grinning.

"We got the message from Sabrina - you're here for the carry limit test?"

Ah, that made more sense. He nodded again, pulling out the paper. Daisy wiped her hand off on her shirt and read it over quickly, nodding, before she reached a certain part. Her eyes went wide. As if on some cue, both Violet and Lily came over to read it, expressions lighting up. "Gladion!"

Their cheeks, for some reason, turned red.

"Was he in Saffron?" Lily said, eyes bright. Her voice was very high pitched. "Was he with anyone?"

Ash blinked. "Yeah, he was traveling with Surge. They were both helping out Sabrina."

All three of them frowned, practically in sync. Daisy shook her head, forcibly replacing her expression with another wide smile, and elbowed her sisters. "Thanks, Ash. We knew him when he first came to Kanto and like to- check up on him." Their blush wasn't going down. "So! Your carry limit test. It's a pretty simple process."

Ash perked up - this was what he was here for. Violet retreated back to continue talking with Lily, keeping their voices low.

"I'll be handling the test, as the strongest Sister," Daisy explained. "The first part is a written test, split into two parts. One is the explanation of your care for your current pokemon, your average trainer income, your training strategies, stuff like that. Making sure you're taking good care of your current pokemon. Next is a basic test of the care of most Indigo pokemon and some of the more common immigrants, to see if you could take care of those. It's pretty simple - I think we've only had one or two people fail because of the written test."

Her smile sharpened. "The second half, however, is a battle, and not a normal one. You'll be facing a member of my true team and I'll be changing things around to try and put you as far out of your depth as possible. That is the deciding factor of whether you get your carry limit removed."

Ash matched her grin. He could do written tests endlessly, giving with how much information he read on his pokedex every night, but battles were where he would shine. Daisy had been a monster the last time they'd faced off, but he'd gotten stronger. Much stronger.

She straightened and clapped her hands together, keeping the confirmation paper tucked under her arm. "Alright! I'll take you to the room. We've already got everything set up, so you can begin! I will have to take your pokedex, though."

He nodded, trailing behind her as she walked toward the back of the battlefield. Tapping the ground behind him, he received a hissing sigh of acceptance as he recalled Wraith, speeding up to keep in line with Daisy. She had surprisingly long legs.

"And here it is!" She said, swinging her arm wide. It looked to be a repurposed storage closet, empty shelves lining the walls. A collapsable table was in the middle, a stack of papers on top. "We're getting ready for the festival right in here, so don't hesitate to come out if you've got a question. Good luck!"

Ash nodded, still grinning, and shut the door when she left. Tapping along his pokeballs, he went and sat in the rather uncomfortable plastic chair, thumbing through the papers. Maybe a dozen in total, all with a decently sized font. A pencil rolled out from underneath the bottom paper, and he snagged it before it went off the edge.

 _What species is your starter?_

Well, at least he knew that one.

xXx

Feeling, somehow, even more pumped than he had when he'd arrived to take the test, Ash triple checked his last answer and shuffled them back in order. It'd gone pretty well - although the dietary requirements for jynx had thrown him off - and he was rather confident. His memorization, while not quite up to Leaf's standards, had always been good.

The Sisters were in roughly the same area they'd been in before, though Violet's hair was sporting a dripping tail and Lily was reading from a laminated sheet of paper. Daisy grinned as he reappeared, hands curling above her head in a stretch. "Nice! Lily, can you send those out?"

Lily groaned but nodded, pushing her pink hair back behind her shoulders. Ash handed them off to her, mind spinning with every question he had second-guessed himself on. Lily hummed absentmindedly as she walked off, skimming through them.

Daisy clapped her hands together, revealing a pokeball between her cupped palms. "Alright! You ready to battle?"

Ash grinned, running his fingers over his own team, only to pause. Violet showed no signs of leaving the pool, legs still dangling in the paper. He couldn't taste any sort of psychic power in the room so sorely needed for large battles, no wave of barriers ready to protect the trainers. He frowned.

"And yes, we're not battling here." She shot him a grin. "That wouldn't exactly test you, would it? The carry test isn't about throwing you in against Lance's dragonite - it's about seeing what you do with a unique challenge. So follow me!" She threw an idle glance at the door, a frown gracing her features. "But through the back door. The crowds are swarming today."

Ash trotted to keep up with her, accepting his pokedex back. "Why are they gathering here?"

She shrugged. "Well, we're the center of Cerulean and all, but I think they're most excited for the show. It's Violet's turn, and ever since Hydrus evolved, everyone's excited about it."

A pokemon show, then. Missing a Sensational Sister show would be an incredible mistake, even more so now that he knew pokemon were involved. He doubted it would be like one of their regular shows, which often involved synchronized diving routines with their pokemon, since there was no chance they could fit the entirety of Cerulean City into their gym.

Daisy ducked out a narrow door in the back and led him down a hall that curled around the back of the battlefield, shooting them out in an alleyway. She frowned, kicking aside an old cardboard box. "Wow, we've got to clean this place up. It's been a while since we've used the back entrance." She rolled the pokeball between her fingers, pursing her lips. "Eh. I'll get Misty to do it."

Ash coughed into his hand.

She led him right, waving cheerfully to the people that greeted her. With everyone on the streets in preparation for the festival, that seemed to be practically the whole population of the city, but they didn't pull her aside for a conversation beyond the normal _hey, Daisy!_ Ash felt rather small behind her.

They kept walking for what felt like a strangely long time. Daisy never lost the pep in her step and Ash kept bouncing on his heels and so didn't lose the energy, but they were winding their way around only occasional houses, hints of Route 9 visible to their right. He wondered whether she'd be okay with him releasing Wraith for protection. Most people didn't appreciate massive ghosts.

Blue glittered before them by the time Daisy finally slowed her pace, ambling up to what Ash could only call a dock, but not.

Cerulean City wasn't _technically_ connected to the sea, but it was only a mile or so outside the city limits so most people ignored that fact. Massive waves kicked up in the distance, reduced to harmless splatters against the long expanse of beach Ash couldn't even see the end of. Seafoam splashed against the tan-white sand, littering its surface with old driftwood and clumps of algae. Not the most pristine beach, but he could see a lifeguard tower in the distance, so obviously still used.

But off to the side was the confusing part. A dock, made of wood with the thickest layer of protectant Ash had ever seen, extended out only to split about fifty feet off the shore. It made two prongs, roughly a hundred feet away from each other, like a fork without the middle section. A few platforms that looked to be the same material of the Sisters' gym bobbed serenely between the prongs, gathered toward either end. He could feel a buzz on his tongue now, Wraith's defenses hissing at the presence of psychic energy.

Daisy threw her arms open wide. "And here's the battlefield!"

Ash blinked before grinning - ocean fields. He'd heard of them but they were uncommon, given as only really water, ice, and flying types could fight on them with any sort of success. It made sense for a coastal city to have one. The League mimicked it with their Water Field, but true ocean fields had many more dangers that came with them. There had to be an incredibly powerful psychic there, both to protect the trainers and the pokemon within. Multiple instances where wild pokemon wandered into the battle had been recorded before.

"One on one," she said, "since I'm guessing you don't exactly specialize in ocean field pokemon. We've got a hypno here, don't worry. You can go all out." There was a surprising spark of challenge in her eyes. "Arceus knows I'm going to."

Ash touched each of his pokeballs - Karma, Scorch, Rook, and Rhydon were immediately out. Even with the "platforms", ocean field battles were nearly impossible for a terrestrial pokemon to stand a chance in. There was also a healthy amount of doubt in his mind that the peacefully bobbing sheet of white material could hold his massive starter's weight. Wraith was an option but moving through water was infinitely more exhausting than air. Tide's pokeball sent a shock of cold up his arm.

"You're on the left," she said, nodding toward the side. He headed toward it, strategies blitzing through his head - a member of Daisy's true team. Dewgong had taken three of his pokemon the last time, and that had only been a few months ago. He was also fighting on her home turf.

His blood pounded in his ears. This would be a battle to remember.

The dock was incredibly stable under his feet, despite the waves that battered it relentlessly. He could practically taste brine with how strong it was, sea wind kicking through his hair and making his eyes water on every sharp burst, but the chill did nothing to the beat of his heart and the excitement in his veins. Carry limit test. Time to go.

Daisy held her pokeball high, far enough away he could only see a blurry outline of her figure. Ash felt the psychic protections snap into place, immediately lessening the sea wind to a mere breeze against his face. The Sister said something that died in the space between them. She waved toward him.

There wasn't any hesitation in his mind on who to pick. Tide was his only pokemon at home in the sea - while Gale had evolved to be an ocean hunter, he still roosted on land. Sealeo rarely, if ever, left deep water currents and massive ice floes. And with his new technique, well. He might not be the strongest on Ash's team, but he was definitely getting there.

Tide hit the water with a bellow, immediately bobbing back to the surface. Ash could see the exhilaration in his eyes - rivers were fine, but nothing compared to true saltwater. He barked a challenge across the ocean field.

Daisy made an odd gesture Ash guessed meant excitement before releasing her own pokemon. A massive swarm of scarlet mist erupted in front of her.

He felt a grin split his face as a gyarados emerged.

It wasn't the massive, hulking ones legends spoke, far slimmer, but muscles gleamed in bulk and its eyes showed nothing of an unwillingness to battle. It coiled on Daisy's side, completely hiding her, baring its cavernous mouth. One of its barbels was missing, a few of its delicate fins tattered.

He hadn't truly fought a gyarados before, beyond distracting one at Vermillion, but it felt like he had for how many battles he had seen with them. They weren't common pokemon, far from it, but they seemed that way because there was _no chance_ someone would forget fighting one.

Tide barked again, flippers slapping the water - despite him being the largest pokemon on Ash's team, he was entirely dwarfed by Gyarados. He didn't seem phased in the slightest.

His mind raced.

Tide swam closer to him as Ash knelt - on an ocean field, his ability to give instructions would be all but destroyed. Deep sea pokemon had awful hearing from the get-go and the field itself was enormous, so he'd just have to try to cover everything here. Another way of making it a unique challenge.

"Whenever you're underwater, don't stop moving," he said, stealing a glance at Gyarados. Daisy was talking to it on her side. "It's probably faster than you in the long run so go for short bursts to evade. Constantly make ice floes, and when you have enough, then go on the offense with ice beam and maelstrom."

Tide's eyes lit up at the mention of his new favourite combo. He barked, slapping his flippers against the water, and abruptly disappeared beneath the surface.

Ash shook, shaking some last water droplets out of his hair, and faced Daisy. Gyarados was coiled in front of her, maw gaping and massive body twisting. Tide was somewhere under the water. They both made eye contact. That was all that was needed to start the battle.

Gyarados bellowed, shooting forward - it dove under the water only to whip its tail around. A wave of water exploded out from the contact and Ash barely saw the blurry form of Tide get picked up in the movement, thrashing. Hundreds of gallons burst against the psychic barrier less than two feet in front of his nose, sending him jumping back.

Fire roared from Gyarados' mouth, vaporized water instantly and sending up plumes of steam - Tide reappeared as a tiny figure, zipping underwater away from the near bubbling water. Gyarados had blinded itself and it didn't notice Tide, at least until he slammed an iron tail into its side.

Ash cheered as Gyarados bellowed, immediately cutting off the flamethrower and spinning around. Daisy waved a hand over her head before jerking it down, fingers splayed. Gyarados roared loud enough to make Ash's bones shake.

It dove under the water, kicking up a burst of blue that splattered against the psychic barriers. Tide immediately rose to the surface, spitting ice beams - two ice floes formed on opposite ends of the ocean field, nearly ten feet of cragged ice each. He barked and made to swim back under.

Gyarados exploded up from directly beneath him.

Tide howled, thrown nearly twenty feet in the air - something Ash had thought impossible with his bulk. Gyarados flung itself up to snap at him with fangs that could rip a man in two but missed, Tide's weight carrying him down faster than expected. He slammed into the water like it was concrete, thrashing weakly. Gyarados lowered itself, still glowing with iron head.

"Tide, get back!" Ash shouted, as close to the edge of the dock as he could get. The sealeo didn't hear him, still struggling to keep himself afloat, shaking his head-

Gyarados slammed into him with all the tact of a hurricane.

Tide disappeared under the water, bubbles exploding upward. Gyarados bellowed, jaws snapping against the air, and glanced back toward Daisy. She gestured once again toward it. Tide wasn't visible.

Ash barely saw Tide's rounded head appear behind one of his ice floes. He bit down to prevent himself from calling out - the sealeo looked awful, purple-black already blooming over his face, but Tide wasn't one to give up. He had challenged an entire team of pokemon back in Vermillion, had gone up against Ash's starter day after day after day, had lived his life with only the intention of proving himself in battle. He wasn't done yet.

He slapped a flipper against the water, the sound ringing out - Gyarados spun and saw him behind the floe, anger hot in its red eyes. It didn't charge at the jagged ice but instead reared back, blasting a perfect blue flamethrower towards the ice.

Even as steam filled the air, Ash saw the water begin to shift toward Tide.

Daisy was practically jumping, waving her hands back and forth. Gyarados growled as it continued to melt the ice floe, evaporating feet upon feet of rising water, not facing her. Its hearing was no better than any other deep sea pokemon. Tide bellowed as the flamethrower finally struck a hit and dove under, prompting Gyarados to swim forward to engage -

With all the speed of an explosion, the ice floe shattered against the water type's back.

Gyarados _shrieked,_ ice tearing through its massive scales. It thrashed, one of the spines over its back hanging weakly, water frothing. Hate manifested as power and with two more arm gestures from Daisy, its mouth began to glow a vivid orange, like flames spilling out - hyper beam. Of course.

Tide was swimming around as fast as he could, using his tail for speed and fur for camouflage, but Gyarados didn't need to see him. Diving under, managing to keep the hyper beam primed in its maw, it corkscrewed like a whip. Bubbles entirely covered its form.

His first clue was the remaining chunks of ice beginning to spin, picking up slowly but then starting to hit and collide against each other, heading directly toward where Gyarados had gone down. The platforms, secured to the dock, trembled outward like they wanted to join. The center of the ocean field dipped a few feet, white with the intensity of bubbles - whirlpool. Ash gritted his teeth. In terms of sheer bulk, Tide was outclassed on several levels. He couldn't resist the pull of a rage-fueled vortex. He watched as a barely-visible shape was pulled, fighting, into the center.

Gyarados exploded upward, mouth still burning orange. It easily threw Tide up with a furious swipe of its tail. The ice type bellowed, thrashing in midair, but his own throat was glowing.

Tide managed to twist before he hit the water and release an ice beam the second Gyarados launched the hyper beam.

The explosion ripped out in waves of pure energy, lighting up the psychic barriers to the point where Ash couldn't see. A resulting shockwave of heat and light threw both pokemon backward, Gyarados giving a furious roar as its bulk kept it above the water. Tide disappeared underneath, invisible beneath the water, but Ash saw his round head appear less than a minute later. He spat another ice beam, creating a new floe before immediately disappearing back under.

Gyarados bellowed and swam forward, destroying the ice flow by slamming straight into it. Tide created another behind it, spitting a short-charge ice beam towards it back. Gyarados spun, shattering the ice that had spread over its back, but Tide was gone again. Hit and run - all he could really do against the beast of the sea.

Three more ice floes appeared in short succession, vastly limiting Gyarados' room to swim. It roared and dove underwater, immense bulk cutting straight through the waves. Tide immediately appeared, spitting four ice beams as fast as he could and clambering on top of the floe as it was still forming. His fur was singed black by the explosion, bruises running over his back from Gyarados' tail, but his eyes were bright regardless. Ash wanted to cheer but the sealeo's eyes were painstakingly focused, watching the water as if it was his opponent instead.

There was the crack of shattering ice and the entire ice floe shook, Tide bracing his flippers as he rocked from side to side, but it didn't break. A bellow echoed through the ocean field, muffled but enraged.

Ash grinned - Gyarados had tried to break the ice floe but found it too thick, that one formed by four ice beams. The water type exploded back up, horns still flickering with iron head - but the scales around its mouth were cracked and fury bloomed in its eyes.

Its mouth glowed orange.

Tide, halfway through his attempt to slide off the ice floe, was struck dead on by the hyper beam. He hit the psychic barriers hard to make them flare before dropping down to sink below the water, thrashing.

Ash made to take a step forward but stopped.

Tide had immensely thick reservoirs of fat, nothing that would make a snorlax jealous but plenty to put other pokemon to shame. One hyper beam wouldn't take him out. It couldn't.

Gyarados roared its victory and dove back under the water, maw gaping, but Ash could see the slump in its massive neck and the lack of speed it had used at the beginning. The recovery time after using hyper beam.

If Tide could strike, he needed to do it now.

Thirty seconds passed in silence. The water was agitated, thrashing against the psychic barriers with waves rebounding against each other. Ash looked at Daisy - though he couldn't be sure, he thought she was smiling.

She had underestimated Tide.

Slowly, with a sort of air of foreboding, one of the remaining ice floes began to move.

It drifted slowly, pushed by some unseen force, before it stopped directly in the middle of the ocean field. Water lapped gently at its side.

Tide exploded out of the ocean, wrapped in coils of aqua ring, propelled by a blast of brine - he immediately dove back in the heartbeat before Gyarados burst upward, thrashing. Ice was encrusted over its face, hiding its eyes. It belched plumes of fire and power, steam erupting upward, each roar shrieking and enormous.

Tide circled as fast as he could, one of his whiskers nearly torn off and flapping against the waves, and ended up behind Gyarados. Water flooded over his form and the ice floe erupted toward him, kicking up sprays of mist -

Gyarados didn't stand a chance.

The floe hit its stomach and nearly impaled it past its scales, shattering into an explosion of shards sharp as any dagger - Gyarados screamed with agony, head still frozen, unknown pain digging into its side - and thrashed. A hyper beam charged in an instant cleaved through the water, vaporizing dozens of feet into a volcano of steam, but Tide was nowhere near it. The sealeo grappled for the last ice floe, aqua ring stuttering through his mass of injuries, but he managed to pull one last time.

It struck Gyarados on the side. With a groan Ash could feel vibrating through his bones, still thrashing with blood vivid against its scales, the serpent collapsed. It sunk beneath the surface before disappearing in a mass of scarlet mist, retreating back to Daisy's side.

They had won.

It was quiet but only for a moment - Tide rose back up, whisker fluttering limply and more bruise than fur, but his eyes were bright and excited and his bark matched that. Ash knelt, trying to get as close as he could. "Tide, you were amazing! That was incredible!"

The sealeo barked, pride brimming in his voice. He glanced back toward Daisy, who was talking to her pokeball. Tide slapped his flippers again, chest puffing out.

"We couldn't have done this without you, bud," Ash said, an enormous grin spreading over his face. Tide seemed to glow, any final lingering doubts he had at being left behind for two weeks fading, before he paused. An odd look filled his eyes.

Wind chill picked up, even past the psychic barrier. Ash frowned, feeling ducklettflesh rise over his skin. Daisy was heading toward him but even she had stopped at the sudden drop of temperature, the steam from Gyarados' attacks completely gone.

Ice leeched over Tide's form, disguising the purpling of the bruising beneath crystal white. Ash made to take a step forward before remembering he was on a dock, trying to reach forward instead. Tide barked once before the ice covered his mouth but he didn't seem scared, eyes gleaming. The sealeo disappeared under the water.

Daisy arrived at his side, panting slightly from the run she had taken to get to him. "Is he injured?"

Ash frowned, standing fully up. "I don't… think so? He sounded happy."

The temperature plummeted another ten degrees and now Ash could see his breath, arms huddled at his side. Waves rose, the water agitated and thrashing from some unseen source, but there was white glittering on their surfaces. Splinters of ice formed and melted within seconds.

It was when Ash saw the barest hints of a powerful light beneath the surface of the water that he knew.

A wave made fully of ice shattered against another, only to have ice creep over that surface as well - pale white swarmed the ocean field as if possessed, the sea doing its best to break the intruder but being unable to keep up. The dock trembled as its supports froze over, the droplets of water on Ash's legs transforming into tiny pockets of cold.

Ice finally won territory and a massive expanse exploded as if from nowhere, directly in the middle of the ocean field. It was thick and strong and almost glacial in size, crags and spires of pure white bursting upward. The edges bloomed outward until they extended past the dock, a circle of raw power. Ash stretched his arms out for balance as the wood shook beneath his feet. His lips seemed frozen in a smile.

Tide was coming unto himself.

A _crack_ like shattering bone raced through the air, brought along by freezing winds, and Ash watched as the middle of the glacier split open like it was nothing, ice splintering and shattering away as something forced itself up. Spires fell and broke, clearing a direct line of sight to the center. The entire structure groaned like it was dying, slices of ice hitting the water, rumbling as parts moved. Ash brought a hand up to cover his eyes as a flash of pure light echoed over the plain. One last flex of some power brought the ice to even height, revealing the shrouded figure within.

Tide was… enormous.

Four limbs splayed out, massive bulk barely contained by slick blue fur, and a tail that positively dwarfed what he had had before. His whiskers had grown into a mane of white tufts, surrounding his head like a crown.

He was easily taller than Ash, just braced on his front flippers. Amber eyes brighter than any fire stared across the plain of ice he had created.

His tusks, weapons strong enough to shatter boulders, extended nearly three feet down his front.

The walrein before him was one built for power, for strength. He had bulk in spades and now the capabilities to use it, four limbs adapted for aquatic and terrestrial travel. His breath came out pure white, even in the frigid air.

He and Ash made eye contact.

Tide carefully opened his mouth, testing the positioning of his tusks. Ice crept outward with his every movement. He didn't seem aware of his surroundings but Ash could see the tenseness in his shoulders, muscles pulled taut and ready for action. Ash forced himself to glance down, if only for a moment. The glacier had spread far enough out that it had frozen the entire area below the dock.

Sucking a breath of far-too-cold air, he slid off the dock and landed on the glacier. Daisy reached for him but she was too late, his boots hitting the white with a light crack. Not completely safe for his weight, then. Ash ignored it.

Tide had narrowed in on him the second he'd moved but Ash kept picking his way forward, past ice jagged enough to cut through bone and downward slopes he had no choice but to slide down and hope for the best. Slowly, he moved closer and closer to the walrein.

The wild look in the ice type's eyes dimmed.

Ash kept moving closer, keeping locked eye contact. Adrenaline highs after evolution were not so much a risk but a guarantee, but Ash knew Tide. The ice type was vicious and stubborn and determined but he knew his team. Ash just had to get close enough to let him. He doubted his horrible vision had gotten any better with evolution.

He wrapped his arms around a twisting spire and used it as a grounding method to inch his way over a ledge, feeling Tide's gaze like two pinpricks in the back of his neck. His boots had barely enough traction to let him shift around, skin snow white after touching the ice directly. He was shivering with every step.

Finally, he was before his friend.

Tide's eyes were almost painfully bright, the last of the energy from his evolution trickling out. Ash took another step forward, close enough he could have touched the walrein's chest. "You're incredible."

There was a moment when the ice type didn't react.

But then whatever spell broke, the high of evolution reducing and leaving Tide as who Tide was - himself. The walrein shook himself, massive tusks carving furrows into the ice before him. He stared at Ash, amber eyes unbelievably excited.

Ash laughed, the sound easy - "You evolved!"

Tide barked, and now it sounded more like an avalanche, voice impossibly deep. He blinked, before trying it again - it was almost concussive with how loud it was. Ash ignored the ringing in his ears and stepped forward, maneuvering around various tusks in order to wrap his arms around his friend's neck. His fingers immediately went numb, frost spreading through his hair. "Thank you, bud. You deserve this."

The walrein made a soft, crooning noise and, carefully, reached up with a flipper in an attempt to hug back. Ash felt the wind get pushed out of his lungs but didn't complain.

Tide had done it.

xXx

Daisy had a smile over her face as she watched him, but Ash didn't really care. He kept rolling Tide's pokeball around in his hands, feeling the jolt of ice with every movement.

Tide had evolved.

"So, you definitely passed the test," she grumbled, passing him another heat pack. Ash took it with his free hand, putting on the back of his neck. Everything was cold. "And you left me a mess of a glacier to clean up. Right before the show, too. Not fun."

Ash snorted.

"But yeah, you deserve this." Daisy unpried her fingers from around her own two heat packs and tapped a few buttons on her pokenav, reading the answer. "And Lily says you also nailed the written portion, so congratulations! You will now have your carry limit removed, as soon as I confirm everything with the League."

She would have sounded more excited if she also didn't sound half frozen.

"We'll order you a new Trainer ID," she offered, pressing a heat pack to the side of her face. "It'll show your new perk so no one tries to call you on it. Do you need to go up a size?"

Ash slipped a finger under the band around his wrist - it was easy to forget most of the time, but it had been growing snug recently. He nodded. Daisy pressed another few buttons on her pokenav and sent off the message, collapsing back against the chair. Ash pulled another pack off his lap and clenched it between his hands, some of the numbness going away.

Scorch was going to be an invaluable resource when training Tide, now.

"It'll take a day or two to get here." She hummed idly under her breath. "I'd suggest sticking around to the end of the festival. Have you ever been to one before?"

He shook his head, vocal cords still feeling faintly frozen. Another drop of water fell from his hair.

"It's something you don't want to miss," she chuckled. "My show is tomorrow but the one Lily put on yesterday was incredible - she used a bastardized form of hail to make it snow, then had her golduck control the snow to make it fly around. I wish I could have come up with that," she said a bit wistfully. "But you know Violet is going to rock it out of the water. Hydrus loves ice and he's going to go to no limits to make it as impressive as possible."

Ash nodded again. There was no chance he was missing a true, honest Welcoming Day celebration.

Daisy stretched, a last few shards of ice splintering off her clothing. "Alright then. Go get your walrein healed up and be ready for the festival at seven - Violet's show is at eight-ish. I think. Eh, you'll know when it starts."

"Thank you," he managed back, then frowned at how hoarse his voice sounded. Maybe he'd pick up a warm drink at the Pokemon Center.

Daisy snorted but led him back to the entrance of the gym, shrugging off the heat packs as they moved. She accepted them back, immediately pushing them against her neck, before gesturing toward the doors. "See you tonight, maybe. There's a lot of people. And congrats, seriously, on passing that test. You deserve it."

Ash beamed and slipped outside.

It seemed the crowd had quadrupled in the time since his test, but his pale white appearance and the frost still littering his hair made everyone shuffle back a bit as he made his way through. He imagined even being close to him probably made them cold. Maybe there was time for a boiling shower before the festival started.

But Tide had _evolved._

Walrein were classified as native to Hoenn in practically name only, given as they rarely came to shore and were often only found as roaming sealeo kicked out of pods. They lived out on the open seas, creating ice floes and swimming closer to land for hunting purposes only. There weren't awards cheered over their water power, many others beating them there, but then there was their ice typing.

Oh, their ice typing.

The spheal line didn't have gills, like many water types, but instead had some of the largest lungs in proportion to their body. That forced them to revisit the surface at least every few days for air, but it also led to them evolving to be able to create massive ice floes as a simple resting point, their lungs the major source of power behind their attacks. Walrein were perfectly adapted to be _the_ ice type.

There were, quite literally, only three other ice type pokemon able to live in the deep ocean - dewgong, cloyster, and lapras - and none of them even came _close._ Dewgong often lived in caves or around them, such as with the Seafoam Islands. Cloyster sunk to the bottom of the ocean, hidden amongst coral reefs. Lapras lived near islands, traveling in packs and spending the majority of their time in bays.

The spheal line dominated the high seas. There were precious few pokemon that could survive the freezing temperatures produced by the deep ocean and none that could so actively thrive in it - walrein were known for creating massive ice floes for the sheer purpose of lowering water temperature and chasing away competitors. They were _the only_ deep sea ice type.

And now Ash had one.

He felt vaguely like he was floating on a cloud as he made his way back to his room.

Nurse Joy still wasn't back but he handed Tide's pokeball over to the weary-looking replacement instead, able to squeak something out about evolution with stiff vocal cords before disappearing up to his room. His clothes - sopping wet in the places they weren't still frozen - were thrown in the bathroom to thaw while he immediately jumped in the shower. He swore part of his skin evaporated the moment the water hit him.

Emerging from the shower a solid thirty minutes later with his cheeks bright red and air thick with steam, Ash happened to glance outside before getting changed. Everyone on the street was wearing variations of the color blue, with enough differences in style and shade that he knew it wasn't one encompassing group. Another tradition of the holiday, probably. He'd stick out like a sore thumb if he came in dressed like any other tourist.

Ash grimaced down at his relatively small collection of shirts. He had various styles, including the heat resistant pair from Cinnabar, but most were deviations of grey. That was… not going to work. He had jeans though, which were blue enough.

It was another five minutes of staring at his decidedly not-blue shirts before he broke and headed downstairs. In every Pokemon Center, there was a store in the back, one that sold generic trainer supplies, like potions, food, antidotes, the works. Most also sold several lines of clothing. Hopefully there'd be something blue-ish there.

Ash browsed amidst a couple of other panicked trainers - including one wearing bright red and looking rather nervous. He scored with a decently priced pale blue one, although it had the Cerulean City gym logo emblazoned across the small of the back.

"That's one of the last we have available," the cashier said with a grin, nudging the scanner closer to him. Ash flicked his Trainer ID under it and waited for the beep, a bit of a mareepish smile over his face. He fled the store as soon as the shirt was in his hands.

The material was alright but Ash still awkwardly pulled it down every few seconds, used to the athletic style the rest of his shirts were in. Making sure he had nothing on his person he couldn't bear to lose, he checked the time once more - 6:51 - and headed back outside. Festival time, apparently.

Ash blinked as soon as he left what he now realized was the protection of the Pokemon Center - everything outside seemed to _bloom._ There weren't confetti or white streamers, instead beautiful bunches of blue cloth, pinned up in some archaic way that made them look like they were trailing down like enormous waterfalls. Icicles, of a sort. Every building had at least one, no matter the size, some large enough to be hung from the roof and still nearly hit the ground while others trailed a few feet down from windows. He brushed past a faux icicle hanging over the door of the Pokemon Center.

Even though night was approaching quickly the city had become alive again, even past what it had been when he arrived. Crowds of endless blue-white shuffled as one through the streets, their voices blending together to a song of elation. Ash felt a grin spread over his face.

He didn't like crowds - or most cities, if he was being honest - but there was something about the purity of this excitement, this amount of people all arriving for one thing and one thing alone.

Maybe he could appreciate this, at least.

Ash shouldered down and started to pick his way in any random direction, heading roughly toward the gym. He could see the tops of stalls over a wall of heads and shifted his trajectory.

The first he stumbled across was manned by a tall blonde, one with a warm smile on her face as she handed out what looked like pastries? People were lined by the dozen in front of her. The stall was decked out in pieces of origami, all folded and slotted perfectly together to form what looked like a coat of scales protecting the sides and top. Each scale was a different shade of blue.

Arceus, how much work had that taken? He didn't know how to do a single piece of origami, let alone hundreds.

He shuffled into the line.

She greeted him with an even wider smile when he arrived. "Hello! How many would you like?"

"What are they?"

As if she had been expecting that, she reached below her counter and whipped out one of the pastries, a small round ball about the size of her palm. "Mochi! They're made of sweet rice with a berry filling!"

Ash blinked but offered his wrist - she swiped her scanner over it and gave him the pastry. Nodding his head as thanks, he disappeared back into the ground and took a bite. Occa, it had to be - when he pulled back, he could see the soft pink interior that spoke of the sweet berry. He polished it off in another bite. It was surprisingly delicious.

He continued to wander around, trying to see each different stall. Several boasted various ice pokemon, including one with a cubchoo on a leash to keep it from escaping and a glaceon that curled up on the stall and lazily accepted all praise thrown at it. Others were stacked high with ice cones, flavoured every color of the rainbow. Memories of Tide's evolution kept him away, throat still hoarse. Another stall had actual pieces of an Ice Stone, carefully protected by acrylic casing and the watchful eyes of a hypno right behind. Ash lingered there the longest - while none of his pokemon would need it, there was still something tangible in the power of the Stones, a sort of presence that made his hair stand on end. It was nearly eight by the time he left that stall and made his way toward the gym itself.

Ash bit back a yelp as someone swung an arm where his head had last been, tucking down and speeding towards a gap. He wished he could have his pokemon out - but with this crowd, there wasn't a single member that wouldn't either be too large, too dangerous, or too uncomfortable. He resolved to tell them all about it later. The clear in the crowd proved large enough and he was able to make his way fully to the gym, trying to walk on tiptoe as if that'd help. There were times he was jealous of Gary and Leaf's height.

Everyone stopped abruptly, before they even reached the entrance - Ash managed to find his way to another break and see what was going on. The entire plaza in front of the gym was walled up with massive ropes, the same guards and more patrolling on the inside. People pressed forward to try and get the best view, but it was clear that the performance wasn't going to happen within the gym itself. Ash squared off his own little spot and craned his neck back to find the perfect angle. Minutes passed as he defended his area as best he could, conversations bright and chirping even as the moon began to rise in the sky. Plenty of streetlamps lit up the area in warm yellow-gold, shadows rippling from the illusioned flames, so of course everyone noticed when they began to dim.

Voices died in an instant as the lights faded to a fraction of what they were before, almost like will-o-wisps in their pale intensity. Ash shuffled forward another inch and managed to see the doors of the gym open, excitement thrumming through his veins.

Violet emerged, prompting a cheer - she stretched her arms up to accept it, a grin visible on her face even from there. Ash shouted alongside everyone else as she moved to stand in the center of the plaza. The streetlamps flared back to their previous brightness, casting shadows of her silhouette in every direction. She was wearing a dress of iridescent blue, gleaming like a rainbow with every movement.

Her voice cracked over the crowd - technological help, it had to be - as she addressed them all. "Welcome to the Welcoming Day of the First!"

A cheer answered her, loud enough Ash could feel it in his bones.

Violet held up something red, twirling it on the tip of her finger. "Then let us celebrate the ice Kanto came from!"

Scarlet mist erupted from the pokeball, and a kingdra appeared.

It was incredibly large, nearly seven feet, and its levitation brought it another one up. An elaborate crown of horns curled above its head, fin gently swaying from side to side, scarlet eyes impossibly bright even in the dark. Hydrus.

Looked like Violet had been able to score that dragon scale.

Violet waited another second before clicking her fingers. The streetlamps dimmed once more in time to catch Hydrus hovering slightly higher, pointing its snout directly upward. A swirling vortex of power formed, but that wasn't it - gasps ran through the crowd as arcs and streams of water rose to join the sphere over its snout from seemingly nowhere, crystal clear and humming with power. Ash happened to glance down.

Storm drain in the middle of the plaza - clever.

Hydrus continued to gather water, pouring from its reserves as the mass of water grew larger and larger over its snout until it nearly dwarfed the kingdra in size. Then, with another click of Violet's fingers, the sphere exploded.

The crowd took a step back as one but the water never touched them, instead beginning to swirl - individual droplets, almost like rain - a mere few feet from the edge of the crowd. The spiral fluttered on the very edge of the crowd, barely misting the frontmost lines. Ash felt a single molecule hit his face. His smile felt like it was going to break off for size. An intensely controlled whirlpool, maybe, focused on ambient water in the air instead of the normal pool? His mind raced with the possibilities.

Hydrus rumbled with another snap, pointing his snout up once more - the tornado of water droplets began to shift, drawn in by some power. Pebbles of escaping moisture splashed over the front row. The kingdra floated another foot higher, the water rising to match - it swirled around Hydrus, the blue of its scales nearly invisible past the thrashing water.

He took a step back and nearly bumped into a kid only a few years younger than him. Ash opened his mouth to apologize but he hardly seemed to notice, eyes brilliantly wide. In his arms was a bucket full of water, a horsea poking its tiny head out the top. Both barely seemed to breathe in their rapture of the fully grown kingdra performing its show.

Violet clicked again and the water flowed back to a single point about Hydrus' snout, writhing and twisting. The crowd all leaned in. Hydrus rumbled, voice seeming to shake the street beneath him, and exhaled a whistling blast of wind. The water detonated outward, thrown back, only to be hit by an explosion of a blizzard Ash could feel in his bones. It froze just as the streetlamps came on, full force.

A massive dome of pure ice glittered overhead, easily double the size of the gym itself. Ash could taste the buzz of strong psychic energy - something was holding it up - but he couldn't help but _stare_ at the power there.

The ice reflected light in a hundred different directions and colors, bringing the illusion of midday to midnight, throwing waves of pearly rays over the crowd. Ash had to squint against the colors. Hydrus rumbled, pleased, as it stared up at the second sky it had created. The dome of pure ice floated serenely nearly fifty feet above the crowd, refracting every beam and multiplying it tenfold. The entire area glowed white with fractals of light.

Ash laughed.

This was what being a trainer was about, wasn't it? If he had stayed in Pallet Town, he would have never seen anything like this. He could never have watched a kingdra create a second sky of pure ice in order to impress a crowd of people, never have seen a glaceon, never have tried a mochi pastry. Everything tonight had been new.

Arceus, he loved this.

Ash put his hands up and added his voice to the cheers of the crowd.

xXx

 **That was fast! Amazing what quarantine will do for you.**

 **Short chapter tonight, but it's a bit more lighthearted as a recovery from last one's. Next chapter should hit the plot home, though I will warn it should take longer than this one to come out.**

 **Also, for my original notes on Cerulean City, I was caught up in my desire for unique cities and made it a struggling town. I will be returning to fix that, making it not something that thrives like Saffron but does well enough for itself, and I hope this chapter showed that!**

 **One last note - movesets. Galar changed a lot, like adding a ridiculous amount of TMs, while removing most tutor moves. I'm not fully decided, but for the moment I'll simply be plugging Alola's tutor move sheet on Galar's list, excluding moves already learned.**

 **Hope everyone is staying safe, and thanks for reading!**


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